Posted on 10/25/2011 10:25:20 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Artificial intelligence researcher, John McCarthy, has died. He was 84.
The American scientist invented the computer language LISP.
It went on to become the programming language of choice for the AI community, and is still used today.
Professor McCarthy is also credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955 when he detailed plans for the first Dartmouth conference. The brainstorming sessions helped focus early AI research.
Prof McCarthy's proposal for the event put forward the idea that "every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it".
The conference, which took place in the summer of 1956, brought together experts in language, sensory input, learning machines and other fields to discuss the potential of information technology.
Other AI experts describe it as a critical moment.
"John McCarthy was foundational in the creation of the discipline Artificial Intelligence," said Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield.
"His contribution in naming the subject and organising the Dartmouth conference still resonates today." LISP
Prof McCarthy devised LISP at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he detailed in an influential paper in 1960.
The computer language used symbolic expressions, rather than numbers, and was widely adopted by other researchers because it gave them the ability to be more creative.
"The invention of LISP was a landmark in AI, enabling AI programs to be easily read for the first time," said Prof David Bree, from the Turin-based Institute for Scientific Interchange.
"It remained the AI language, especially in North America, for many years and had no major competitor until Edinburgh developed Prolog."Regrets
In 1971 Prof McCarthy was awarded the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in recognition of his importance to the field.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
/johnny
I fondly remember learnign LISP in college.
We had to do a program where you figure out the colors for a map, knowing that the optimal is 4 colors.
The program is known to be unable to be solved for a badly ordered list using standard lisp and everyone submitted convoluted attempts that all failed (but that was expected)
All failed- except mine.
Since I knew that 4 was the answer I progrmmed it to resort the list until I got the answer 4. It was 1/tenth the size of everyone elses example and worked for every input they threw at it.
The teacher didnt know whether to fail me for cheating or give me an A for brilliance.
I successfully argued for and got the A, since the problem was not to find the least number of colors (which is known to be 4) but to output a properly colored map, which I achieved.
RIP
There are more "upsetting" languages than LISP variety, for example, PROLOG and production system language(YAPS, OPS5.) I am not sure if they are still in wide use in AI community.
John McCarthy and others who pioneered AI are biased toward mathematical logic due to their academic background. On the other hand, von Neumann championed different approach, more biologically motivated ones. In hindsight, I think von Neumann was on the right track. AI strayed into wrong direction for 3 decades before it dug itself out of lopsided bias toward mathematical logic. The dazzling array of concepts and analytical tools made mathematical logic more seductive as a tool. It seemed it is better equipped to capture high cognitive capability of human beings.
I tried to market it, but was unsuccessful.
Everybody just made fun of it because it spoke with a Lisp.
Baddabing! I'll be here all night folks, try the Veal.
(Hmmm, now that Don't Ask, Don't Tell has ended, maybe it could be successfully marketed.)
And who the heck left all these right-parentheses laying over here in a pile, huh???
RIP John McCarthy.
Let us hope that the maxim that "deaths happen in threes" is true this time, and that we don't lose another technological great too soon.
I was not betting on McCarthy. We do have a host of computer pioneers who are getting up there in age though. Niklaus Wirth (Pascal), Douglas Engelbart (mouse), Marvin Minsky (AI) and Wesley Clark (LINC computer) are in their late 70s to their 80s.
Yes, given that list let’s hope that’s the last for this year.
LISP's ability to treat itself as data at the most intimate level is unique among computer languages.
There is a story that Peter Norvig, of Google, was giving a talk on Python (generally considered a powerful computer language), and McCarthy happened to wander in. When Norvig concluded his presentation and and asked for questions, McCarthy raised his hand and asked if Python could gracefully manipulate Python code as data. “No, John, it can’t,” responded Norvig.
More here.
Lotsa Insane Stupid Parenthesis. That's what I was taught.
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