Hacker News: pmcjones

New comment by pmcjones in "On the Design of Programming Languages (1974) [pdf]"

pmcjones — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:07:25 +0000

Last updated 1996.

Noordung's "Wohnrad" – the precursor to rotating space station architecture

pmcjones — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 23:09:39 +0000

Article URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576525008616

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47211763

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:08:38 +0000

I should have given this link also: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/book/A...

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:06:06 +0000

Sigh -- they keep changing the rules. I think you have to have a free ACM account. If you send me an email (see my home page in my profile), I'll send you a PDF.

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:26:43 +0000

The link dump includes scans of the source code and a link to this free-to-read paper on the history of the Lisp 2 project: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8267589 (I’m the author).

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 04:12:51 +0000

And here's an English translation of the History chapter from Stoyan's 1980 book _LISP-Anwendungsgebiete, Grundbegriffe, Geschichte_ [LISP Application, Basic Concepts, History]: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/book/S...

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 04:09:46 +0000

Here are some bibliographies, including an extensive (but old) one by Herbert Stoyan. Apologies for the rough formatting of them: https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/LISP/resour...

New comment by pmcjones in "Show HN: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp"

pmcjones — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 04:06:44 +0000

And it's worth pointing out here that the book itself is now freely available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/542865

Grok Is Temporarily Unavailable

pmcjones — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 01:07:28 +0000

Article URL: https://status.x.ai/grok-com

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740073

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by pmcjones in "A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars"

pmcjones — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 01:27:58 +0000

This URL gives a choice of format: online, purchase hardcopy, or download PDF (requires free account): https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/28594

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars

pmcjones — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 01:24:29 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/28594

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46283547

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by pmcjones in "Chuck Moore: Colorforth has stopped working [video]"

pmcjones — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 02:31:11 +0000

Was your work on the 6502 perhaps in the 70s?

New comment by pmcjones in "Prosper Data Breach"

pmcjones — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 02:36:53 +0000

How is it possible to be in the breach for someone who never had a prosper account?

New comment by pmcjones in "The Old Robots Web Site"

pmcjones — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:53:17 +0000

I had this one in the 1950s: https://www.theoldrobots.com/Ideal.html

New comment by pmcjones in "BCPL (2022)"

pmcjones — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 02:25:47 +0000

Information about other implementations of BCPL:

https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/BCPL/

New comment by pmcjones in "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)"

pmcjones — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:02:13 +0000

One of my younger brothers died a few weeks ago (he was 67; I'm 75). When people offer sympathy, I accept it and don't question their motives or involvement.

New comment by pmcjones in "The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System [pdf]"

pmcjones — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:13:49 +0000

A better URL:

https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/interlisp...

Generative AI's failure to induce robust models of the world

pmcjones — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:43:54 +0000

Article URL: https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/generative-ais-crippling-and-widespread

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44409405

Points: 76

# Comments: 82

New comment by pmcjones in "The hunt for Marie Curie's radioactive fingerprints in Paris"

pmcjones — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:17:31 +0000

An X-ray machine was in the shoe store when I was little, but my father told us not to let it be used on us.

New comment by pmcjones in "BYD's Five-Minute Charging Puts China in the Lead for EVs"

pmcjones — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:53:10 +0000

China seems to spend a lot on its military as well as its industry.