Talk:Peter Landin

Typo in the title of "The next 700 programming languages"
I have been unable to find any support for the claim that 700 in "The next 700 programming languages" was a typo. A while ago, the text said that it should have been 100, and now it says 200. Where does this information come from? Bringert 15:27, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Landin's paper begins with a quotation about there being "over 700 application areas" for programming languages at that time. Landin proposed that application-specific languages could be derived from his ISWIM family of languages, and as there were 700 current application areas, a language could be derived for each - and beyond. Therefore it does not look like a typo, unless the quotation was inaccurate.

However, the language ISWIM was named by a typo. Landin originally named it ISWYM for "I see what you mean". When the galleys were shown to him with the word changed to ISWIM he decided he preferred the interpretation "If you see what I mean" and stuck with it. citation? Perhaps someone could ask the man himself. --81.149.133.88 16:36, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I removed the remarks about the title being a typo. I had also attempted to find a reference for this and couldn't find one, but the remarks immediately above is the clincher. A B Carter (talk) 19:21, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

For information, the "700" typo information comes verbally from the man himself, who I know. I will try to get him to write this down next time I see him! — Jonathan Bowen 22:47, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
 * It seems that this was miscommunicated. See the article for an updated reason. Again, I will try to get him to record this more formally if possible. — Jonathan Bowen 11:03, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Rod Burstall repeated the "typo" claim in his acceptance speech for an award at ICFP today. No idea what his actual source was, though as he was active in the field at the time he might have had contemperaneous knowledge of it happening. GaneshSittampalam (talk) 22:23, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~crary/819-f09/Landin66.pdf