Early Programming Books

[ben]

On 2021-06-21 3:47 p.m., Rich Alderson wrote:
>> Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 22:19:02 -0600
>> From: ben via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> 
>> LISP still can't be compiled.
> 
> May I respectfully suggest that you don't know WTF you're talking about?
> 
> LISP compilers have existed for decades.  One of the *early* MIT AI Lab papers
> by Guy Steele is a comparison of the compiler for MACLISP (the Project MAC
> dialect of Lisp, nothing to do with Apple computers) with the then current
> FORTRAN compiler for the PDP-10 (called "F40"), in which the LISP compiler
> generated better code than the FORTRAN compiler.
> 
> Things have not degenerated since then.
> 
>                                                                  Rich

Lisp is evaluated, not compiled from what little I have read.
If I could read the papers (for free) I could know more.
Refal "Recursive functions algorithmic language" from Russia
looks just what I was looking for. Around since 1966.
Ben.