Friday, November 04, 2011

fogus: In the Shadow of John McCarthy

fogus: In the Shadow of John McCarthy: "Steve Russell

That Steve Russell created the first LISP evaluator is fairly well known, so to include his name on this list is questionable. However, it’s important to note that has it not been for his effort the history of LISP as a language might have never occurred and if it had then it would have manifested very differently. In early 1959, Steve Russell took the theoretical idea that was LISP devised by his advisor John McCarthy and hand-compiled the “Universal LISP Function” to operate on the IBM 704. In a survey of one, I suppose the lesson is to never listen to your advisor."


(I met Steve "Slug" Russell at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California)