LISP programming language

What it is

Language based on lists and recursive functions, with garbage collection and interactive interpretation. It was the mother tongue of artificial intelligence for three decades.

What it led to

• Research into symbolic AI and expert systems
• The concepts of functional programming, interpreters and garbage collection in modern languages
• MIT hacker culture and free software (Emacs)

Built on

• FORTRAN programming language1957
• Church's lambda calculus
• Newell and Simon's IPL

Made possible

• Expert systems (DENDRAL, MYCIN)1965-1972
• Smalltalk and object-oriented programming1972-1980
• Computer algebra systems (Macsyma, Mathematica)1968-1988
• Emacs
• functional languages
• Scheme

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