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Yes. Originally it was a thought experiment. Just like mathematicians can imagine an idea and use a notation without creating a compiler.
by jarjarbinks455 7y ago
Yes. Originally it was a thought experiment. Just like mathematicians can imagine an idea and use a notation without creating a compiler.
- lispm 7y agoSure not. McCarthy wanted to develop a list processing system for the IBM 704 in the mid 50s. He experimented with Fortran and added list processing primitives and then went on to design and implement a new language: Lisp McCarthy early on proposed to write a compiler - actually this was one of the very very early papers: J. McCarthy. Memo to P. M. Morse: A Proposal for a compiler. Memo CC-56, Computation Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, December 13, 1957, 19 pages. http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/MIT/CC-56.pdf http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/MIT/CC-56....