In defense of Lisp [was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 125, Issue 13]

Then again, the only AI language I've run into that isn't Lisp is just as odd syntactically in a very different way - POP-2, brought to you by the AI folks at U of Edinborough (UK). Just like APL, it has the rule that all operators associate in the same direction. Unlike APL, it solved the conflict between assignment and the rest by making assignment associate left to right, so you end up with statements that look like this: a+1 -> a I haven't seen it since college; I wonder if there are any implementations or users still left. <<<< Look up "Poplog" on Google. It has extended and is available for Linux and Windows - looks like the OSX version is unlikely to run on current versions (as it is compiled for PPC) I wonder if anyone has a copy of the old ICL1900 version of POP2 anywhere? (That was the version I used more than 40 years ago! I assume it would run on Dave Holdsworth's George 3 emulator and possibly on the other 1900 series emulator which apparently exists but seems impossible to obtain) Andy