From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Emanuel Berg Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2023 05:34:33 +0200 Message-ID: <875yadhc52.fsf@dataswamp.org> References: <831ql416bp.fsf@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="21433"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Cancel-Lock: sha1:voi38UE1+eWeIA0cEAXMs58c3wI= Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Mon Apr 03 14:24:43 2023 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1pjJEo-0005MJ-Tz for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 14:24:42 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pjJEL-0005vz-8B; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:24:13 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pjAxv-0005kE-5x for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 02 Apr 2023 23:34:43 -0400 Original-Received: from ciao.gmane.io ([116.202.254.214]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pjAxt-00083L-HN for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 02 Apr 2023 23:34:42 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.io with local (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1pjAxr-0005Fd-QU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 05:34:39 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Mail-Followup-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Mail-Copies-To: never Received-SPF: pass client-ip=116.202.254.214; envelope-from=ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; helo=ciao.gmane.io X-Spam_score_int: -15 X-Spam_score: -1.6 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.6 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.25, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-Mailman-Approved-At: Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:24:10 -0400 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:305068 Archived-At: 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 -- underground experts united https://dataswamp.org/~incal