历史与人物gnu.org编辑精选
我的 Lisp 经历与 GNU Emacs 的开发（2002）
My Lisp Experiences and the Development of GNU Emacs (2002)
2011 — 2019，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 Richard Stallman 2002 年的一篇回顾文章，讲述他与 Lisp 的渊源以及 GNU Emacs 的开发历程，涉及 Emacs 用 C 写快速内核、以可扩展解释器赋能用户的设计，以及 MIT AI Lab 与 Symbolics 的分裂等历史。
为什么经久不衰：它既解释了 Emacs 为何能持续演进，也提供了自由软件运动前史的一手视角，因此多年后仍值得重读。
HN 评论精选
核心用 C、上层可扩展解释器的设计，加上赋能用户的哲学，使 Emacs 长寿。
用 C 写快速核心，选择一种图灵完备语言来构建工具，再给用户一个解释器以便扩展，这是精彩的设计。无论你是不是 Lisp 粉丝或 Emacs 用户，这都是构建复杂工具的好方法。Unix 工具哲学是做一件事并做好，而 Emacs 表明反过来走也行：只要坚持赋能用户，软件可以延续五十年。
sn41查看英文原文
The principle of writing a fast core in C, and choosing a Turing-complete language as the language to build the tool, and further giving the user an interpreter so that (s)he can extend it, is a brilliant design. Whether or not you are a Lisp fan or an Emacs user, this is a great way to build a sophisticated tool. While the unix tool philosophy is to do one thing and do it well, Emacs shows that it is possible to build software which lasts 50 years by going the other way as well, as long as there is a philosophy of empowering the user.
心理门槛比技术门槛更阻碍普通人学习编程。
那本手册展示如何扩展 Emacs，却没说明这是编程，于是那些自认不会编程的秘书没被吓退。这段很触动我，因为我长期对计算机有同感。人们认定计算机很难、很复杂，就害怕，只使用自己认定能理解的严格子集，结果做错或低效。常常为了“保护”计算机和自己免受自认不懂的东西，反而弄坏它：他们不知道自己在做什么，因为觉得自己学不会。“太复杂了。”
jarcane查看英文原文
"They used a manual someone had written which showed how to extend Emacs, but didn't say it was a programming. So the secretaries, who believed they couldn't do programming, weren't scared off." That bit really jumped out at me, because it's something I've felt about computers in general for a long time. People get it into their heads that computers are hard/complicated/etc., and so they get scared of them, and so then they don't do anything with them but a strict subset they've decided they understand and wind up doing all sorts of things wrong or inefficiently. Often, in trying to protect the computer and themselves from what they've convinced themselves they don't understand, they wind up breaking it instead: they don't know what they're doing because they think they can't learn. "It's too complicated."
关注 MIT AI Lab 因 Lisp/Symbolics 分裂的历史，并求推荐相关书籍。
Symbolics 挑起的战争把 MIT 毁掉了，但当时还有别的事情在发生。有人放弃了合作，这些合在一起摧毁了社区，没剩下多少。因 Lisp 和 Symbolics 在 MIT AI Lab 的内部斗争比我以为的更有趣。维基说“有两个 AI Lab 的人选择不被任何一方雇用：Richard Stallman 和 Marvin Minsky”。没想到这两个名字会同列。有没有好书讲这段历史及其与后来自由软件运动的联系？
bcaa7f3a8bbc查看英文原文
> The war that Symbolics started was what wiped out MIT, but there were other events going on then. There were people giving up on cooperation, and together this wiped out the community and there wasn't much left. The internal struggle in the MIT AT Lab due to Lisp and Symbolics seems more interesting than I thought. I read Wikipedia, and it says "there were two AI Lab people who choose not to be employed by either: Richard Stallman and Marvin Minsky". Wow, I never expected to see these two names in the same line. Are there any good book that covers this part of the history and its connection to the later development of free software movement?
Symbolics 失败主要源于 UNIX 工作站的规模经济，而非个人恩怨。
Symbolics 的命运最终和 Stallman、Greenblatt 或 LMI 关系不大。Sun 等公司用 UNIX 工作站的规模经济直接击垮了 Symbolics，Lisp 的优势也没说服多少人改用 Lisp 机器。类似地，Rational Software 起初做 ADA 机器，只有在彻底转向、放弃硬件和 ADA 后才存活繁荣。
CurtMonash查看英文原文
The fate of Symbolics wound up having little to do with Stallman, Greenblatt, or LMI. Sun et al. just blew away Symbolics with the economies of scale of UNIX workstations, and the advantages of LISP didn't persuade many people to go with LISP machines instead. Similarly, Rational Software started out making ADA machines, and only survived and prospered after a total pivot away from hardware and ADA alike.
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