4 ms·

Of course Lisp had recursion before Algol60.

• kazinator 4y ago
  Lisp was in fact returning up from 19 levels of recursion, when it encountered Algol that was just starting on its way down. Lisp thumbed its nose: "I got there first, Algol; don't bother looking for the return value!"
• eesmith 4y ago
  Indeed, Lisp contributed to why Algol 60 has recursion. Quoting https://vanemden.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/how-recursion-got-into-programming-a-comedy-of-errors-3/ https://vanemden.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/how-recursion-got-... > McCarthy, fresh from the success of his Lisp project, was enthusiastic about recursion as an elegant way to get computers to do what they are best at: repeat execution of the same code with suitable modification each time around. In fact, the first Lisp had no iteration, so that the only way to add all elements of a linear list was to write a recursively defined function. As a member of the Algol committee he proposed making the possibility of recursion a feature of the new language. The proposal was crowded out by more pressing concerns. The result was that in the early months of 1960, when the report was to be finalized, there was no consensus on recursion.
• shadowofneptune 4y ago
  Ah, of course I forgot lisp. Came so early, considering what it could do.