Lisp

Lisp is slightly younger than Fortran, making it not-quite the oldest language discussed in this chapter. It was first released in 1958. Clojure, discussed earlier, is a dialect of Lisp. Lisp is designed to process lists. Linked lists are the language’s main data structure. It was originally created to be used as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs, but became popular as a program for research in artificial intelligence.

There have been many versions of Lisp over the years, and many dialects. The most commonly used “regular Lisp” in use today is probably ANSI Common Lisp, of which there are also multiple implementations. To use ANSI Common Lisp on Ubuntu, install the package clisp. Type clisp from the command line to bring up a REPL (from which you may exit by entering quit).