John McCarthy's 1980 Reflections on LISP: Past Successes and Future Improvements
By
birdculture
A bagel you'd recommend to a friend without hedging.
Summary
John McCarthy, the creator of LISP, reflects on the programming language's 21-year history and future prospects. He notes that LISP has survived because it represents a local optimum in programming language design, but acknowledges it has accumulated unnecessary features ('barnacles') that should be removed. McCarthy identifies neglected opportunities for improvement and calls for cooperative maintenance efforts, particularly in creating and maintaining program libraries to ensure LISP's continued relevance.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledLISP has survived for 21 years because it is an approximate local optimum in the space of programming languages.
However, it has accumulated some barnacles that should be scraped off, and some long-standing opportunities for improvement have been neglected.
It would benefit from some co-operative maintenance especially in creating and maintaining program libraries.
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