When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn What Does Lisp Mean?
Lisp is a family of computer programming languages that originated in 1958 and has since undergone a number of changes and dialects. It is considered the second-oldest high-level programming language in use today, after Fortran.
The name “Lisp” is derived from “list processing,” because linked lists are part of major data structures and the source code is made up of lists. Because of its origins, Lisp was originally considered an acronym and spelled “LISP.”
Techopedia Explains Lisp
Initially, Lisp was designed to be used as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs. The language later gained popularity and was used further for conducting artificial intelligence research, primarily thanks to computer and cognitive scientist John McCarthy, who is generally credited with the invention of artificial intelligence.
The language has exhibited its usefulness over time. Lisp brought in many popular theoretical computer science ideas and concepts, such as automatic storage management, dynamic typing and the self-hosting compiler. Common Lisp and Scheme are two of the most popular practical specifications of Lisp that are still used for software/application development.
