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∂AILDr. Herbert Stoyan↓DDR 806 Dresden↓Togliattistr. 40↓East Germany∞

Dear Dr. Stoyan:

Here are some answers to your questions.

1.  I don't remember what Newell and Simon called their language.

2.  The very first version of Fortran, which came out in 1957 I think, had
the facility for defining a function by a single formula;  i.e.  you could
put at the beginning of the program a statement like D(x,y)=SQRT(x**2 + y**2)
and then use the function D later in the program.  The facility for defining a
function by by a subroutine came with Fortran 2.  Part of the motovation for
conditional expressions was to make the original Fortran function facility more
powerful.

3.  I telephoned Roland Silver and he told me that he invented a method
of compacting garbage collection some years later but that he thought that
I invented the original form of garbage collection and this agrees with my
memory.  Probably Abrahams confused Silver's later implementation
with the original form still used in most LISP systems.

Under separate cover I am sending you copies of papers by Vuillemin, Cadiou
and Morris.  Goto is at Tokyo University and you should write to him
directly at the Department of Information Sciences.

I will send you an official invitation as soon as it is definite, but I am
not sure that this will be by the end of 1976.

.reg