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pmcjones

612 karma · joined July 24, 2008

http://www.mcjones.org/paul/
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pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
The first video is the same as https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FP/#Backus1... .

I hadn't seen the Group Meeting video; I will add it (even though it's very rough).

I will change the entry for [Booch2007] to include the video as well as the transcript.

pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
In that first diagram (https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FP/Composin...), A and B are supposed to be pure functional programs; side-effects are modeled by each one outputting a new version of each modified input. In the second diagram (https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FP/Strict_H...), as actually implemented in FL, they stick to strictly leftmost-innermost evaluation order so that side-effects are at consistent (but this presumably prevents parallel evaluation).
pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
Can we move this conversation to email? I am not sure what diagrams you are referring to.
pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
Is this your project: https://github.com/metazip/pointfrip ?
pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
Thanks very much; I in turn will add a link the Related Resources section. If you'd like to be recognized as other than metazip then let me know via email.
pmcjones··on History of John Backus's functional programming project (draft)
Author here. This is work-in-progress, not linked from top level. I'll keep working.
pmcjones··on Exploring PDP-1 Lisp (1960)
Try these:

https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/lisp15...

https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/lisp15...

https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/lisp15...

(The third one includes the source code to PDP-1 Lisp.)

pmcjones··on Edsger Dijkstra's Library (Housed and Archived in Leuven, Belgium)
For more information about Mesa, see: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/mesa/
pmcjones··on The analog computer museum's online library
I donated https://www.analogmuseum.org/library/beckman_EASE_installati... to this web site. The original was from my father-in-law, Professor Cyril P. Atkinson at U.C. Berkeley.
pmcjones··on Ada, its design, and the language that built the languages
https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/mesa/

Mesa had DEFINITIONS modules, exceptions, subranges, and threads.

pmcjones··on On the Design of Programming Languages (1974) [pdf]
Last updated 1996.
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
I should have given this link also: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/book/A...
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
Sigh -- they keep changing the rules. I think you have to have a free ACM account. If you send me an email (see my home page in my profile), I'll send you a PDF.
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
The link dump includes scans of the source code and a link to this free-to-read paper on the history of the Lisp 2 project: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8267589 (I’m the author).
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
And here's an English translation of the History chapter from Stoyan's 1980 book _LISP-Anwendungsgebiete, Grundbegriffe, Geschichte_ [LISP Application, Basic Concepts, History]: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/book/S...
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
Here are some bibliographies, including an extensive (but old) one by Herbert Stoyan. Apologies for the rough formatting of them: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/resour...
pmcjones··on Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
And it's worth pointing out here that the book itself is now freely available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/542865
pmcjones··on A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars
This URL gives a choice of format: online, purchase hardcopy, or download PDF (requires free account): https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/28594
pmcjones··on Chuck Moore: Colorforth has stopped working [video]
Was your work on the 6502 perhaps in the 70s?
pmcjones··on Prosper Data Breach
How is it possible to be in the breach for someone who never had a prosper account?
pmcjones··on The Old Robots Web Site
I had this one in the 1950s: https://www.theoldrobots.com/Ideal.html
pmcjones··on BCPL (2022)
Information about other implementations of BCPL:

https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/BCPL/

pmcjones··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)
One of my younger brothers died a few weeks ago (he was 67; I'm 75). When people offer sympathy, I accept it and don't question their motives or involvement.
pmcjones··on The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System [pdf]
A better URL:

https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/interlisp...

pmcjones··on The hunt for Marie Curie's radioactive fingerprints in Paris
An X-ray machine was in the shoe store when I was little, but my father told us not to let it be used on us.
pmcjones··on BYD's Five-Minute Charging Puts China in the Lead for EVs
China seems to spend a lot on its military as well as its industry.
pmcjones··on BYD's Five-Minute Charging Puts China in the Lead for EVs
So diesel-electric cars.
pmcjones··on Why Bell Labs Worked
SQL, cost-based database query planning, transaction locking, … — System R.
pmcjones··on Evertop: E-ink IBM XT clone with 100+ hours of battery life
The Quark was discontinued in 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quark

pmcjones··on Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions
The Voyager computers have done pretty well (with some help from JPL).
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