From the 1960 "Lisp Programmer's Manual":
"The current basic LISP system uses about 12,000 of the 32,000 memory of the 704"
The IBM 704 introduced core memory; each unit of which provided 4K 36-bit words.
So that first Lisp system used twelve thousand thirty-six bit words (less than half the system's physical RAM) -- a challenge to modern implementors. 😉
DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄) /
npub1cq…aus7x
2025-04-29 19:19:36
Author Public Key
npub1cqpvfl54huyxkvdgff08u69qkj60tzhwgd3jxwfq8qs83qxzwzdq7aus7xPublished at
2025-04-29 19:19:36Event JSON
{
"id": "e7a240481bb7aa1db6498dff68f7ec7ce0213136599286099437e4033e714276",
"pubkey": "c002c4fe95bf086b31a84a5e7e68a0b4b4f58aee436323392038207880c2709a",
"created_at": 1745954376,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://mathstodon.xyz/users/dougmerritt/statuses/114422866033414507",
"activitypub"
],
[
"client",
"Mostr",
"31990:6be38f8c63df7dbf84db7ec4a6e6fbbd8d19dca3b980efad18585c46f04b26f9:mostr",
"wss://relay.mostr.pub"
]
],
"content": "From the 1960 \"Lisp Programmer's Manual\":\n\n\"The current basic LISP system uses about 12,000 of the 32,000 memory of the 704\"\n\nThe IBM 704 introduced core memory; each unit of which provided 4K 36-bit words.\n\nSo that first Lisp system used twelve thousand thirty-six bit words (less than half the system's physical RAM) -- a challenge to modern implementors. 😉",
"sig": "b8c6ee6fdb26e64748e7f2ca22264b77afd0cdb1a9fb32a4d655a5dfb26f7ed5087e2df5340a14477e9a3b0d11ab4ae9e63bd46d56aa4242c030846967fe11f9"
}