see previous discussions at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14727881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14727881 quoting the submission verbatim: The o

see previous discussions at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14727881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14727881 quoting the submission verbatim: The original paper of LISP by John McCarthy http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive.html http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive.html Or the more accessible explanation by Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html