Lisp and symbolic computation

Recursive operations on symbolic expressions provided a foundation for Lisp.

John McCarthy

AI topics

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The contribution

McCarthy presented a formalism for symbolic expressions and their computation, including recursive functions. This gave AI researchers a language suited to manipulating programs and symbolic structures, rather than treating numerical calculation as the only computing task.

What this does not establish

Lisp development began before the paper appeared. The timeline dates the publication, not the first implementation.

Why this date?

The linked paper was published in April 1960, rather than 1958.

This entry follows the linked publication. Read the source and date conventions.

The original work

Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I

Authors: John McCarthy
Publication: Communications of the ACM, April 1960
Source type: Journal article

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Citations

Works and systems referenced by this entry. Related publications are identified below.

The Logic Theory Machine (1956)
Related paper about this system. Reference 2 cites Newell and Shaw, Programming the logic theory machine (1957), a separate paper about this system, rather than the 1956 RAND report. Check the reference list.

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Read the indexed bibliography

Reference section 1 (PDF pages 34)

1. J. McCARTHY, Programs with common sense, Paper presented at the Symposium on the Mechanization of Thought Processes, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, England, Nov. 24-27, 1958. (Published in Proceedings of the Symposium by H. M. Stationery Oﬃce). 2. A. NEWELL AND J. C. SHAW, Programming the logic theory machine, Proc. Western Joint Computer Conference, Feb. 1957. 3. A. CHURCH, The Calculi of Lambda-Conversion (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1941). 4. FORTRAN Programmer’s Reference Manual, IBM Corporation, New York, Oct. 15, 1956. 5. A. J. PERLIS AND K. SAMELS0N, International algebraic language, Preliminary Report, Comm. Assoc. Comp. Mach., Dec. 1958.

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AI topics

The contribution

What this does not establish

Why this date?

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