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From: dant@tekla.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d,misc.misc
Subject: Lisp operators
Message-ID: <1297@zeus.TEK.COM>
Date: Wed, 25-Feb-87 19:53:04 EST
Article-I.D.: zeus.1297
Posted: Wed Feb 25 19:53:04 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Feb-87 00:23:06 EST
References: <1277@beta.UUCP> <517@cod.UUCP>
Sender: rogers@zeus.TEK.COM
Reply-To: dant@tekla.tek.com (Dan Tilque)
Organization: Congregatio de Propaganda Fide
Lines: 28
Xref: utgpu comp.sources.d:353 misc.misc:600
Summary: What is CAR(CDR(CAR(...)))

In article <517@cod.UUCP> rupp@cod.nosc.mil.UUCP (William L. Rupp) writes:
>In article <1277@beta.UUCP> hp@beta.UUCP (Akkana) writes:
>>
>
>>I knew I had joined the ranks of REAL Lisp programmers when I found out
>>that "cdr" was pronounced "could-er" instead of "cooder" the way the
>>books said.  (But how do you pronounce cadddadr?)
>
>I don't understand why a three letter command should not just be
>pronounced as its spelled; i.e. 'cee dee are.'  
>

Many years ago at school when I learned Lisp (I've never used it since) I
learned that there are essentially two operators in the language.  These
are "CAR" and "CDR".  ("CDR" *is* pronounced "could-er".)  The interesting
thing about them is their origin.  It seems that on the machine where
the language was developed (at Stanford, I think; don't know what machine)
there were two registers: a Current Address Register (CAR) and a Current
Decrement Register (CDR).

I always thought that this was perfect example of a machine independent
language.

((;-))   <== Lisp smiley

---
Dan Tilque
dant@tekla.tek.com