Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it

[Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org>]

Richard Stallman wrote:

> I think `null' was among the first Lisp functions to be
> imagined and given a name, at the very start of the
> invention of Lisp, before there was an implementation --
> along with `car', `cdr' and `cons'. The convention of naming
> predicates to end in `p' must have come after that.

As you know, but it's interesting to those who don't ...

(info "(eintr) Strange Names")

  The name of the cons function is not unreasonable: it is an
  abbreviation of the word "construct". The origins of the
  names for car and cdr, on the other hand, are esoteric: car
  is an acronym from the phrase "Contents of the Address part
  of the Register"; and cdr (pronounced "could-er") is an
  acronym from the phrase "Contents of the Decrement part of
  the Register". These phrases refer to specific pieces of
  hardware on the very early computer on which the original
  Lisp was developed.

Hm ... That was in 1958? What kind of machine was that?

https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/eintr/Strange-Names.html

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