5 ms·
So the author was excited about the concept of function composition? I'm a fan of lisp but I'm not seeing what's particularly novel about lisp here.
by pweissbrod 8y ago
So the author was excited about the concept of function composition? I'm a fan of lisp but I'm not seeing what's particularly novel about lisp here.
- michaelcampbell 8y agoIt was novel to you when you first saw it, which is what he's describing.
- rpeden 8y agoWell, it was 1983. So seeing something like this in a programming language was more novel than it is now. Also, up to that point the author has only programmed in a couple of different assembly languages, plus Basic. Coming at it from that perspective, there's plenty of novelty to be found in Lisp family languages.
- reikonomusha 8y agoContext is also helpful. “I’m not sure what’s novel about function composition” is a little bit of a smug take on a language and concept that was pretty cutting edge back in the early 80s. Now we Meat-and-Potatoes Programmers know the composition is useful, but I’d be hard pressed to find first-class composition in 1980 in any popular language that wasn’t {academic, Lisp}.
- int_19h 8y agoWas it, though? If I remember correctly, Algol 68 had facilities sufficient to do everything the author describes, and just as neatly.
- aaaaaaaaaab 8y agoNot function composition, but higher-order functions.