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From: LIN%MIT-ML@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: stupid questions....
Message-ID: <15041@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Jan-84 14:40:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.15041
Posted: Mon Jan  2 14:40:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jan-84 00:54:01 EST
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From:  Herb Lin <LIN @ MIT-ML>

Speaking as an interested outsider to AI, I have a few questions that
I hope someone can answer in non-jargon.  Any help is greatly appreciated:

1. Just why is a language like LISP better for doing AI stuff than a
language like PASCAL or ADA?  In what sense is LISP "more natural" for
simulating cognitive processes?  Why can't you do this in more tightly
structured languages like PASCAL?

2. What is the significance of not distinguishing between data and
program in LISP?  How does this help?

3. What is the difference between decisions made in a production
system (as I understand it, a production is a construct of the form IF
X is true, then do Y, where X is a condition and Y is a procedure),
and decisions made in a PASCAL program (in which IF statements also
have the same (superficial) form).


many thanks.