Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!apollo!gupta_d
From: gupta_d@apollo.HP.COM (Dipankar Gupta)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.functional
Subject: Re: thunk's
Message-ID: <5133f3f8.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 26 Apr 91 11:59 GMT
References: <1991Apr19.064216.23597@gucis.sct.gu.edu.au> <1151@creatures.cs.vt.edu>
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Reply-To: gupta_d@apollo.HP.COM (Dipankar Gupta)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Apollo Division; Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 18

In article <1151@creatures.cs.vt.edu> lavinus@csgrad.cs.vt.edu () writes:
>Hi out there!
>
>I have a question that has been nagging me for quite some time: why do we
>call closures "thunk"s?  I mean, where did that word come from?  The only
>two theories I've heard, neither with *any* supporting evidence, are that
>it is an anagram for Knuth, and that perhaps it is a facetious past tense
>of "think".  Anyone know??
>
Weren't the "call-by-name" params in Algol-60 called thunks?

Dipankar
Hewlett-Packard India Software Operation
Bangalore, INDIA

Gupta_D@apollo.hp.com