"I have a mind like a steel... uh... thingy." Patrick Logan's weblog.

Search This Blog

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Time Sharing

From Lispy at the Lisp at 50 conference last week...

"Steele asked what's his one idea that could have had the most
practical impact if it had actually gotten implemented. McCarthy said,
if IBM had taken his ideas about time sharing… then things would have
been quite a bit better in the 1960's. At this point, JonL stood up
and started clapping."

http://lispy.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/lisp50-notes-part-iii-mccarthy-reaffirms-the-importance-of-having-access-to-the-abstract-syntax/

(I think we still may be paying for that gaff in many data centers.)

No comments:

Blog Archive

About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.