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C00002 00002	\\M1BASL30\M2BASB30\M3NGR25\M4NGR20\F2\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
C00005 00003	Each of these areas can be sketched in a two-hour period, though obviously
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\\M1BASL30;\M2BASB30;\M3NGR25;\M4NGR20;\F2\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\F3\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F4COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT\←L\-R\/'7;\+R\→.\→S   Telephone:
\←S\→.415-497-4971
\F1\CSept 3,1974



Dr. W. M. McKeeman
Information Sciences Dept.
University of California
Santa Cruz, Cal 95060


Dear Bill:

\JThis letter was delayed by two short vacations: the display system crapped
out for a week and then  I did likewise.  In any case here is the current 
vision of the cosmic all: the structure of the LISP manuscript has changed
significantly. There is a more abstract approach to LISP programming carried
out by introducing abstract data structures much earlier than before and
new sections on mathematical semantics incorporating M. Gordon's recent thesis.

Depending on the intestinal fortitude of your guinea pigs the following performances
are available at a nominal handling fee:

1. Mechanics of the language: S-expressions; M-expressions; styles of LISP
programming; examples.

2. Evaluation: the structure of LISP's evaluator; implications of LISP-style semantics

3. Formal properties: Provablility; denotational semantics and its relation to LISP's
interpreter.

4. Implementation: representation of LISP data structures and programs in a 
"typical" machine; binding strategies; symbol tables; mechanization of evaluation;
garbage collection.

5. Compilers: simple compilers for subsets of LISP; bootstrapping; one-pass assemblers.

6. Implications to language design: what can be learned from  LISP.

7. General horse shit: programming tricks; applications; etc.

Each of these areas can be sketched in a two-hour period, though obviously
thorough coverage of all aspects requires more time.
I'm enclosing a recent table of contents reflecting the structure of the
current manuscript. I will provide copies of the manuscript but would expect
some reasonably details comments and criticisms from the class.
I would also be quite  willing to time my lectures to compliment other classes
which the seminar members might be attending.\.
\←L\→S\←R\-L\/'2;\+L\→L

Yours sincerely,



John R. Allen
Research Associate
Computer Science Dept
Artificial Intelligence Labs

\←S\→L