[Python-ideas] aliasing

[Steven D'Aprano]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano writes:
>  > Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>  > > MRAB writes:
>  > > 
>  > >  > Fortran also pre-dated stack allocation (I think), so local storage was
>  > >  > static (and no recursion!).
>  > > 
>  > > If FORTRAN [sic] predated stack allocation, what did Lisp use to
>  > > handle recursion?
>  > 
>  > I don't see the connection. The first proposal for Fortran was 1953, 
>  > with the first public release in 1957, while John McCarthy didn't start 
>  > work on Lisp until 1958.
> 
> He didn't start work on Lisp the language, or Lisp the interpreter?

Define "start work on" :)

At what point do idle musings about a possibility become actual work?

According to McCarthy, early key ideas and experiments in Lisp occurred 
between 1956 and 1958, some of which using a Fortran-based back end (so 
I was wrong to say there was no connection -- McCarthy was certainly 
aware of Fortran and at least mildly influenced by its "formula 
translation" aspect). Between 1958 and 1962 Lisp was implemented and 
used for experiments in AI.

http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/lisp.ps

In Fortran's case, I haven't been able to find when John Backus first 
started thinking about the idea, but he submitted a proposal to IBM in 
late 1953. A draft specification followed in 1954, followed by a manual 
in 1956 and finally a compiler in 1957.

I guess the pace of computer software releases was slower back then, and 
people more forgiving of vapourware.

<wink>


-- 
Steven