LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual [Paperback]

John McCarthy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262130114 | ISBN-13: 978-0262130110 | Publication Date: August 15, 1962

The manual describes LISP, a formal mathematical language. LISP differs from most programming languages in three important ways. The first way is in the nature of the data.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The LISP language is designed primarily for symbolic data processing used for symbolic calculations in differential and integral calculus, electrical circuit theory, mathematical logic, game playing, and other fields of artificial intelligence.The manual describes LISP, a formal mathematical language. LISP differs from most programming languages in three important ways. The first way is in the nature of the data. In the LISP language, all data are in the form of symbolic expressions usually referred to as S-expressions, of indefinite length, and which have a branching tree-type of structure, so that significant subexpressions can be readily isolated. In the LISP system, the bulk of the available memory is used for storing S-expressions in the form of list structures. The second distinction is that the LISP language is the source language itself which specifies in what way the S-expressions are to be processed. Third, LISP can interpret and execute programs written in the form of S-expressions. Thus, like machine language, and unlike most other high level languages, it can be used to generate programs for further executions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 15, 1962)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262130114
• ISBN-13: 978-0262130110
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Lisp

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Original Reference for the LISP Programming Language, March 29, 2001

By 

Michael Levin (North Andover, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual (Paperback)

The LISP programming language was invented by John McCarthy in the late 1950s when he was co-director of the MIT artificial intelligence group. Unlike all other programming languages, LISP is also a simple elegant mathematical formalism which could be called a generalized arithmetic. LISP is also unique in that the language and the data are a single unified formalism. To see how far LISP has gone since then, one should read Common LISP: the Language, by Guy Steele. (There are also several excellent tutorial type books.)

I was an undergraduate student at that time, and as member of the group wrote the LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual which was later published as a book by the MIT Press. Today, it is of interest as a historical document only. (The book lists the members of the group at that time, and states that the manual was written by M. Levin)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read., May 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual (Paperback)

This book is not just of historical interest. Much has changed since 1962 but not that much. This book is THE reference for implementing dynamically scoped Lisps.