Post #1782113

2026-04-23 02:06 UTC

@screwlisp I think a lot of it is just writing for research & a teaching class, not for production. CLU is a good set of primitives for that, but nobody ever wrote libraries against it, there was only one impl & only on VAX. Scheme is a MUCH better teaching language, & also had a production-quality impl, on micro-computers, & libraries. LISP is too huge to teach, it's fine having all the features but they aren't organized in any way.

Replies (2)

@screwlisp@gamerplus.org 2026-04-23 02:57

@mdhughes yes I did have the thought of e.g. Sussman teaching with scheme while looking at Liskov's CLU.

Open ##1782114
@lain_7@tldr.nettime.org 2026-04-24 14:22

@mdhughes @screwlisp CLU started in 1973, before the Vax was introduced (1977). Started on the PDP-10 (ITS), and later there was a PDP-11 Unix port, which I guess was pretty widespread. (History of CLU: https://publications.csail.mit.edu/lcs/pubs/pdf/MIT-LCS-TR-561.pdf ) Liskov oral history interview: https://infinite.mit.edu/video/barbara-liskov/ (video, has transcript). A friend once remarked at hearing disgust in Liskov’s voice when saying “…but it’s… *Lisp*”. I wonder what she thought of Scheme — that may have been the topic that prompted her reaction — Scheme, I guess, started in 1975, so the development would have been happening in the same building, though probably on different floors.

Open ##1782115