Towards a Better Understanding of CAR, CDR, CADR and the Others

TL;DR

This paper explores the origins and implications of naming conventions like CAR, CDR, and CADR in IBM 704 architecture, highlighting their potential as compound functions that serve as small access programs.

Contribution

It provides a historical and conceptual analysis of these function names, proposing they function as tiny access programs rather than simple data accessors.

Findings

Names like CADR can be read as small access programs.

The naming conventions may have influenced programming practices.

The paper offers a new perspective on the semantics of these function names.

Abstract

This paper describes the IBM 704 architecture and the genesis of the names for CAR, and CDR, which, as it turns out, probably don't quite make sense. The paper suggests that this may not be all bad, as the names lend themselves to compounding. Indeed that the compound function names , such as CADR, or even CADADR, etc. may be read as little access programs.