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@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ out to be more popular and Lisps began using it.
Unlike other languages at the time and also modern languages, Lisp is homoiconic, that is, Lisp source code is data that can be manipulated
by the program itself. This gives Lisp powerful metaprogramming capabilities through the use of macros which modify the program data at compile
time. Therefore, Lisp source code directly represents the program as a tree without extra superfluous syntax (as in "mainstream" [programming languages](programming_language.md)).
time. Therefore, Lisp source code directly represents the program as a tree without extra superfluous syntax
(as in mainstream [programming languages](programming_language.md)).
Lisp is built on primitives such as `cons`, `car`, `cdr`, `lambda`, `apply`, `eval` and others. Since it is based on the [lambda calculus](lambda_calculus.md)
a Lisp could be built in terms of lambdas. For example, using Church encoding this is how `cons` cells could be implemented using only lambdas:
@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ a Lisp could be built in terms of lambdas. For example, using Church encoding th
(car (cdr (cons 'A (cons 'B 'C)))) ; ==> B
(cdr (cdr (cons 'A (cons 'B 'C)))) ; ==> C
```
By using lambdas you could also implement arithmetic from scratch, including numbers themselves.
A PDF of the original Lisp 1.5 manual can be found here: <https://www.lispmachine.net/books/LISP_1.5_Programmers_Manual.pdf>. Head to page 13 for
enlightenment.