Programming Language History

[Paul Lussier]

Bill Freeman <f at ke1g.mv.com> writes:

>	I thought that my copy of McCarthy's lisp book was dated 1957.
> If I ever find it again I'll confirm that.  I also have a vague memory
> of a claim around the MIT AI lab that lisp and fortran were the same
> age.

I'm pretty sure maddog is correct on the year 1954 for as the year
Fortran entered the world.  I know that Lisp was first created as a
usable programming language in 1959, and was first implemented by a
student of McCarthy's almost immediately after McCarthy told him not
to bother trying to implement it.

The McCarthy book you refer to may well have been released in 1957,
since he did publish his ideas on Lisp well before it was actually
implemented.

-- 

Seeya,
Paul