Posts categorized in ‘lambdacalculus’ (2)

From the previous entry in this series, one of the things of note in discussing the nature of the connections between LISP and (the) lambda calculus was John McCarthy’s concern about recursion and higher-order functions. A couple of excerpts from previous quotes from McCarthy on the subject to set the stage: …And so, the way in which to [be able to handle function passing/higher order functions] was to borrow from Church’s Lambda Calculus, to borrow the lambda definition.

The first of a series of envisioned blog posts on lambda calculus, and Lisp. It’s unclear exactly where to start: there is a whole heap of interesting issues, both theoretical and in terms of concrete implementations, which tangle and interconnect. A particular application of lambda calculus is a very salient part of my “day job” as a formal semanticist of natural language. And my interests in Emacs and lisp(s) feel like they tie in here as well—though that’s a question in itself which is probably as good of a starting point into this (planned) series of posts as any.