The architecture of symbolic computers
by Peter M. Kogge · first published 1991
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Covers how symbolic and Lisp-oriented computers were built in hardware, with an excellent treatment of eval and apply; suits readers curious about language-driven architecture and computing history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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My list: - The Plenitude - Rich Gold Not a computing book with code but it taught me a lot about what can be done with computers, and that they are marvelous machines. - Architecture of Symbolic Computers - Kogge An ode to what could have been if RISC and x86 hadn't steamrolled the landscape. - Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie Forth is wild, this book is wild, it's really a different world. After multiple…
on “Quirky computing books” ↗Lisp Machines. I am reading the book, 'The Architecture of Symbolic Computers' written in 1990 by Peter M. Kogge. Amazing book. It's really teaching me a ton of computer science at a level in one shot that no other book has. People fail to realize at times, that Linux was a choice…
on “Project Oberon” ↗…http://repository.readscheme.org/ftp/papers/ai-lab-pubs/AIM-... More LISP details can be obtained by the book "LISP in Small Pieces" by Christian Queinnec (1996), and an excellent description of the eval/apply functions can be found in "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" by Peter M. Kogge, 1990. Btw: to satisfy my more or less latent pedantism: The second SICP author is called Abelson not Ebelson.
on “Lisp in about 200 lines of Ruby” ↗…Queinnec is one of the canonical references in that area. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521562473) At university we had a copy on implementation of functional programming languages following "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" by Peter Kogge, which is very good, too. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070355967)
on “(How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (in Python))” ↗…implementing functional programming languages, viz. the SECD machine (named after the four stacks necessary, Stack, Environment, Code, Dump.) The book I first read about the SECD machine is Peter Kogge's "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" and I recommend it dearly. - Regarding the use of lambda calculus: It's not just the equivalent of a Turing machine, but much more fundamental in the theory of implementing programming languages: Aside…
on “The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages” ↗…framework along the lines of flask. I prefer CL to python, although, I use python too, and appreciate its ubiquity - in Blender3D, FreeCad, Vectorworks, etc... I am in the middle of the 1990 book, The Architecture of Symbolic Computers, by Peter M. Kogge. Amazing book. All about non-Von Neumann architectures, Lisp and functional programming.
on “Lucerne: A Common Lisp web framework” ↗…data. Also, I think what's important is to marry the Lisp programming language and the Lisp Machines. The hardware was built with Lisp in mind. I am a fifth of the way through a 1991 book called "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" by Peter M. Kogge, and it is like my eyes have opened wide. No more splitting hairs over Ruby, Python, Clojure, Linux, OSX and Windows: Give me a machine tailored for the software running on it. the…
on “A Story about Symbolics Lisp Machines” ↗I am not sure if it will suffice to fully answer the os side, but I mentioned this book in a reply at the top: "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" by Peter M. Kogge. Amazing book, THE book, at least for me. Written in 1991, it is so fascinating and clear. See if you can get a copy. They seem to have gone up in price this year - from $45 to $250!…
on “A Story about Symbolics Lisp Machines” ↗…Neumann-propagating propaganda! Just kidding, I just embarked on nand2tetris this week. Great stuff! However, I feel have betrayed my Lisp Machine lust in the process. I was reading Peter Kogge's 1992 book, "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" (fantastic book, Lisp, or not), and hoping to implement my own LM in simple hardware, no Symbolics machine here ;) I have Pilos (PicoLisp on bare metal) running in a VM on my Windows 8 box[1], and I…
on “Arduino in the size of a AA battery” ↗Peter Kogge's 'The Architecture of Symbolic Computers' is a great book on Lisp and Lisp machines and much more. It explains a lot of the questions this post has elicited.
on “What is Symbolic Computation?” ↗Of the works listed, I’ve read only The Architecture of Symbolic Computers and Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. The latter is widely known as it undergirds many a computer science course, but the former is far more impressive by a wide margin. As a invertebrate…
on “Six works of Computer Science-Fiction (2015)” ↗A great tech book on symbolic computers in general and Lisp machines, is Peter Kogge's 1991, "The Architecture of Symbolic Computers". I believe new efforts by people like Yann LeCun will counter the "LLMs or bust" monoculture along with SOC/ASICs, in-memory compute, neuromorphic chips, dataflow, optical/analog hybrids , etc. that…
on “Inventing the Future, One Lisp Machine at a Time” ↗"The Architecture of Symbolic Computers" by Kogge comes close.
on “How These Things Work – A book about CS from first principles (2016)” ↗Awesome! Specifically not on my list already there's: Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming; Smalltalk-80: The language and its implementation; The Architecture of Symbolic Computers and Project Oberon: The design of an operating system and compiler. This reminds me Niklaus Wirth's Compiler Construction probably belongs in this thread.
on “Ask HN: Most interesting, mildly impractical, well-written books on software?” ↗1. Amiga Assembly Language Programming (1987) - The book that tore me away from the Commodore BASIC I learned on my PET 2001 in 1978. 2. The Architecture of Symbolic Computers - (1991) - I didn't read this until the 2000s, but boy, what a book! It's about Lisp and Lisp Machines, but it covers everything that is still applicable to computers. A great example of a dense, readable…
on “Ask HN: Name 3-5 books that had the most impact on your career and knowledge?” ↗