Re: s-exprs + prototypes

[Michael Vanier <address@hidden>]

> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 23:51:28 -0700
> From: Steve Dekorte <steve@dekorte.com>
> 
> On Wednesday, June 25, 2003, at 10:52 AM, Pascal Costanza wrote:
> > The Lisp paradigm is rooted in the belief that there is no single 
> > right perception of reality. Instead, a language has to provide the 
> > building blocks that allow you to reconstruct any perception of the 
> > world.
> 
> What I'm saying is that an object = functions & data in a 
> context/scope. If LISP has functions and data in a context, it has 
> objects. The only difference (AFAICS) is which scoping rules you choose.
> 

As Alan Kay says, objects are latent in the notion of closures.  Woo hoo!
We can all shake hands, sing kumbaya, and live together happily ever after!
;-)

BTW I'm referring to a talk by Alan Kay that is viewable here:

http://murl.microsoft.com/LectureDetails.asp?1019

[Warning: only viewable on Windows]

It's a very nice talk.  Alan mentions how influenced he was by lisp, and
makes the somewhat cryptic statement that one of the biggest epiphanies of
his life was when he understood what was written on the bottom of page 13
of the Lisp 1.5 manual.  That manual is available here:

http://green.iis.nsk.su/~vp/doc/lisp1.5/mccarthy.html

Unfortunately, the page numbers aren't there, but I assume he's referring
to section 1.6: "A Universal Lisp Function".  Anybody have a printed
copy?

Mike