History of Lisp
- Why is Lisp so important to programming history?
- What foundations and conventions of modern programming came from Lisp?
- Why did Lisp have dialects?
- How does Lisp stand out from other programming languages?
History of Interlisp
- Why was Interlisp born? What gap does it bridge in Lisp?
- How did Interlisp contrast programming conventions of that time?
- What was the orthodox mindset/culture around programming at that time and how did Interlisp ask you to think differently? What new culture was Interlisp promoting/encouraging?
Medley
- Why was Medley helpful when it came out? What was the context in which Medley was a significant problem solver?
- Why is Medley a technical achievement? What are some of the significant barriers that Medley’s development team faced in designing, operationalizing Medley?
Overview of the Primer
- How should you, the reader, think about Interlisp, Medley?
- How should you approach this primer? What approach does this primer take? What is the relationship between you and the text?
- What framework and lens do we want you to adopt as you start going through the primer?
- What are the goals of this primer?
- What do you achieve by completing this primer?
- What will you learn from this primer?
- How is this primer organized?
- What are the projects in this primer about?
- What do you need to know before starting this primer? What technical skills do you need? What programming fundamentals should you brush up on before diving into the primer?