Comment by dekhn

When I was first introduced to computers, I was shown BASIC and Logo (Apple II plus). Logo felt a lot like a LISP (at least, that's how it was presented to me... ) with a very easy way to make graphics (turtle model).

I couldn't really get into Logo- it felt too indirect, too computer-sciencey, so I went into BASIC and later Machine Language to learn how to build games (I was influenced by Choplifter, Lode Runner, Wizardry, and Ultima). It wasn't until some time later that I learned LISP and began to appreciate functional programming and the turtle model (I still am amused at how much I learned on that original Apple II that still applies today to tech like SVG).

I reflect a lot on how Norvig was a LISP guy and then when he saw what was happening in scientific computing, pivoted to treating Python like LISP (https://www.norvig.com/python-lisp.html and https://www.norvig.com/lispy.html) although I don't know that anybody really anticipated we'd have systems like Jax which really turn functional programming in an imperative language on its head.