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Research breakthrough · curated entry

McCarthy designs Lisp

Lisp

Date
October 1958
Category
Research breakthrough
Organization / Model
John McCarthy
Evidence
1 source · 1 evidence family

At MIT McCarthy built a language around symbolic expressions and recursion, naturally suited to manipulating lists and programs themselves. For decades Lisp and its dialects were the main tools of symbolic AI, expert systems and programming-language research.

Curator's note: Cross-checked against the original paper page; Lisp took shape in 1958, the paper was published in 1960.

Curated sources · 1

  1. Original paper · Communications of the ACM1960-04

    Lisp

    doi.org

Cite this page

This page is a curated static snapshot and can be cited directly. Preferred format GB/T 7714—2025 (electronic resource [EB/OL]); the other 5 styles open below, together with the machine-readable files.

GB/T 7714—2025 (electronic resource [EB/OL])

AI 纪年. McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言[EB/OL]. (1958-10)[2026-11-03]. https://aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html.

APA 7 · American Psychological Association

AI 纪年. (1958, October). McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言 [Web page]. https://aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html

MLA 9 · Modern Language Association

"McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言." AI 纪年, Oct. 1958, aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

Chicago 17 · notes-bibliography

AI 纪年. "McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言." Published Oct. 1958. Accessed Nov. 3, 2026. https://aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html.

IEEE · citation-reference list

"McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言," AI 纪年, Oct. 1958. [Online]. Available: https://aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html. [Accessed: 3 Nov. 2026].

ACM · author-date variant

AI 纪年. October 1958. McCarthy 设计 Lisp,成为 AI 研究的通用语言. Retrieved November 3, 2026 from https://aihist.net/e/lisp-1958.html.

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