[gambit-list] Queinnec's Lisp in Small Pieces for CAN$3.95+shipping

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky znmeb at cesmail.net
Sat Aug 18 11:37:35 EDT 2007


Marc Feeley wrote:
> On 18-Aug-07, at 10:39 AM, Harold Ancell wrote:
> 
>>> Since we're doing jokes, and since RnRS is itself based on a joke (a
>>> play on the Algol report) -- earlier today I thought of a better name
>>> which I think the newly inaugurated R5.97RS should be called by when
>>> it becomes a final standard: GrandScheme.
>>>
>>> "Grand", of course, being French for large, which is the exact
>>> opposite of the ideal for a Scheme standard. OH! I'll be here all
>>> week!
>> Not bad, but not as good as "R6RS!".  We *do* need a distinctive
>> name for that which we sincerely hope someday becomes "The Language
>> Formerly Known As Scheme", assuming the Steering Committee doesn't
>> do a major last minute intervention.  I think I'll use GrandScheme
>> for now, it works just as well for native English speakers.
>>
>> We also need a name for what we've got, the R5RS based
>> implementations that will at most have a R6RS compatibility package
>> (the route Larceny and Gauche will be taking).
>>
>> I've been using "UncommonScheme" as a working name; I don't dislike
>> Common Lisp per se, but there's reasons I switched....
> 
> The name that comes to mind first is "Schemer".  That's the original  
> name for the Scheme language.  The "R" at the end was dropped because  
> the file system was limited to 6 characters.  I also like the ring of  
> "The Language Formerly Known As Scheme" (perhaps because I love Monty  
> Python).

I *know* I should Google for this, but it's Saturday -- Google deserves
a day of rest. So how did "Scheme" get its name? I know Lisp stands for
Lis(t) P(rocessing), and you just said it was originally called
"Schemer" but only 6-character names were allowed. That implies a 36-bit
machine to me, which would be either an IBM 704/9/90/94/44 architecture
or a PDP 6/10/DecSystem 10/20 architecture.

By the way, nearly all language implementations are extended subsets of
a standard anyhow. :) So how about "EMEHCS", which stands for "Enhanced
Multifarious Extended Hierarchical Computing Subset".

I'm out of the running for the book -- got one at list price. :)




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