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@make(letterhead,Phone"497-4430",Who"John McCarthy",Logo Old, Department csd)
@style(indent 8)
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@begin(address)
Professor Nico Haberman
Computer Science Department
Carnegie-Mellon University
Schenley Park
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
@end(address)
@greeting(Dear Nico:)
@begin(body)
	Somehow your original letter asking about Guy Steele must
have gotten past my filter, because I only have your mailgram.

	I have a high opinion of Steele's abilities, although I
have not had occasion to read his recent papers.  This opinion
is based on his collaboration on SCHEME with Gerry Sussman, on
many conversations, and on his leadership of the Common Lisp
effort.  This last has been the first successful attempt to pull
together the various Lisp groups in the twenty year history of Lisp.
Its success is almost entirely due to Guy Steele's efforts in
organizing meetings, in understanding everyone's point of view,
and in writing up the consensus in the successive drafts of the
manual.

	I realize that this letter refers to only a small part
of his activities and probably not the activities most important
for academic promotion.  In this case, I think the fact that I
don't know more is my misfortune.
@end(body)
Sincerely,




John McCarthy
Professor of Computer Science