Re: Invention of the stack
From: Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca>
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:31:08 GMT
Message-ID: <gorxh.2402$R71.36326_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>
>
> else,
>
>
>
> McCarthy built Lisp earlier, although he didn't publish until 1960.
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:31:08 GMT
Message-ID: <gorxh.2402$R71.36326_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>
Walt wrote:
> "Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
> news:Qc8xh.2066$R71.30214_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>
>>Walt wrote: >> >> >>>Bob Badour attributed the invention of stacks to Djikstra. I would have >>>supposed that John McCarthy invented stacks somewhat earlier. >>> >>>Does anyone know whether Djikstra got the idea for stacks from someone
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> else,
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>>>or invented it independently? >>>Does anyone know whether stacks (sometimes called pushdown lists in the >>>early literature) predate McCarthy's development of Lisp? >> >>First, I should point out that Dijkstra, himself, gives credit to >>several others who apparently came up with the same idea at around the >>same time he did.
>
>>Wikipedia dates the publication of LISP at 1960 versus the stack at 1959:
>
> McCarthy built Lisp earlier, although he didn't publish until 1960.
According to a friend of a friend, McCarthy invented the stack for LISP in the fall of 1958, which puts it ahead of Dijkstra's invention of the stack by some months. Received on Sun Feb 04 2007 - 21:31:08 CET