From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Roland Winkler Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2023 13:48:22 -0500 Message-ID: <87v8icssy1.fsf@gnu.org> References: <831ql416bp.fsf@gnu.org> <875yadhc52.fsf@dataswamp.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="7155"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Cancel-Lock: sha1:sKyxlHUHytUa57kYbH0nOuAtiUk= Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Mon Apr 03 21:13:05 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 1pjPc1-0001gF-E9 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 21:13:05 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pjPbE-0003JP-2j; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:12:16 -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 1pjPEL-00076O-CR for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 14:48:37 -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 1pjPEJ-0004MM-0U for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 14:48:37 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.io with local (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1pjPEC-0009p8-RZ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Apr 2023 20:48:28 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ 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 15:12:13 -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:305082 Archived-At: On Mon, Apr 03 2023, Emanuel Berg wrote: > 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? But (info "(eintr) Strange Names") goes on: Besides being obsolete, the phrases have been completely irrelevant for more than 25 years to anyone thinking about Lisp. When was this written? Maybe 25 years ago? Maybe the number should be updated.