Why did John McCarthy "discover" lisp?
Why do people say that he "discovered" lisp instead of "invented"? Am I missing something?
Yes.
Consider the parentheses in an s-expression.
(function foo bar)
The s-expression is a universal structure that can be used for every construct in a lisp. Notice that the core structure is not changed if we replace the parentheses with say, semi-colons.
;function foo bar;
The core of the concept remains the same. McCarthy's discovery is classed as such because as a construct s-expressions can be crafted from any set of symbols.[0]
[0]: This statement is probably false in more ways than one, that still doesn't damage my point.
"Pure Lisp was a discovery, everything that has been done with it since has been an invention."
McCarthy said this while visiting a class at Stanford on May 7 2008 --- according to an eyewitness report here on Hacker News!
Suffice it to say though, that Lisp is said to be discovered because that is the terminology typically used with things in mathematics.
Mathematics is discovered, simply because mathematics was invented elsewhere in order to run the matrix we have evolved on. Apparently in a pan galactic hyper intelligent teenagers bedroom
And here's an interesting discussion that should answer your question: http://www.quora.com/Do-aliens-have-LISP