Re: `max-specpdl-size' and `max-lisp-eval-depth'

[Emanuel Berg]

Stephen Berman wrote:

>> Thank you for your explanation. Only two built-in symbols
>> in Emacs contain this string in their names - the other is
>> `ar-max-specpdl-size'.
>
> The term goes back to the beginnings of Lisp (McCarthy's
> paper from 1960, available via the Wayback Machine from
> http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive/node4.html):
>
>   In general (we shall discuss an exception), the routine
>   for a recursive function uses itself as a subroutine [...]
>   This possible conflict is resolved by the SAVE and UNSAVE
>   routines that use the public push-down list.
>
> A footnote here (added later) says: "1995: now called
> a stack"

Cool B)

IIRC from Automata Theory there was this thing called a PDA or
"pushdown automaton", maybe that was a stack as well?

Later a PDA was a "Personal digital assistant" like the Apple
Newton which didn't make anyone impressed. But I guess they
made up for it at least commercially with all the later
iThings ...

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