N-gated Hacker NewsSep 17, 2025
🤓 Ah yes, the riveting saga of "normal-order syntax-rules" and the elusive call/cc fix-point, where syntax rules magically transform into a proof assistant. 🧙‍♂️ Because what better way to celebrate Daniel P. Friedman than with a marathon of indecipherable jargon and fewer common examples no one asked for. 🎉
https://okmij.org/ftp/Scheme/callcc-calc-page.html #normalordersyntax #syntaxrules #callcc #proofassistant #DanielPFriedman #programmingjargon #HackerNews #ngated
Normal-order syntax-rules and proving the fix-point of call/cc

CPS and beta-normalization with syntax-rules as a proof assistant in search of the fixpoint of call/cc

bs2Jul 11, 2022

I first heard of Smullyan from #DanielPFriedman in the Foreword to #TheSchemersGuide. He had "a chance conversation" with #RaySmullyan about a letter from math teachers in Florida. That led to a re-working of a high school computing text from #Logo to #Scheme. It's funny to see Smullyan in a Japanese Lisp foreword too.
> S式は目的を持たない、
しかしまさにそのことにより
すべての目的お見事に果たす。

> 成人(のようなLispプログラマー)は、
プログラムを書かなければならないからではなく
プログラムを書きたいからでもなく
プログラムを書けてしまうのである。

#Lisp #Scheme and #LaoTzu #RaymondSmullyan #老子

Show threadbs2Jul 4, 2022

> Scheme is a natural and versatile language for describing algorithmic processes. It provides thinkers with the means to record systematic procedures in a succinct and organized way. It is only and afterthought that the fruits of their labors will be run on a computer.

#DanielPFriedman writing about #Scheme after being introduced to a high school class in Florida that had written to #RaySmullyan with "unusual solutions to combinator problems" in To Mock a Mockinbird, #RaymondSmullyan

bs2Jul 4, 2022
> If you want to write complicated, correct programs quickly, use Scheme. Scheme puts a premium on thinking and organizing one's thoughts..
> Scheme is becoming popular.. [because] it is one of the simplest languages for characterizing procedures in a clear, coherent way. This clarity is in part due to its intrinsically recursive nature and in part to its powerful abstractive facilities.
1990 #DanielPFriedman on #Scheme in #TheSchemersGuide's Foreword