[pro-kythera]

> Tell people to implement a Lisp down on the imperative language of the machine.

FWIW, my understanding is that the statement "God exists" in Aristotle is equivalent to the statement: "You cannot say it is Xs all the way down; there must be a base layer which is unchangeable (which we call God)."

Could there be a hint here that programming-deity is either: a) imperitive at heart; or b) inordinately fond of garbage collection?

[bsder]

> Could there be a hint here that programming-deity is either: a) imperitive at heart; or b) inordinately fond of garbage collection?

Or, perhaps, programming-devil is and we've all been tempted wrongly? :)

One problem with programming history is that it is all about compiling. And that is definitely the work of programming-devil.

People are trying to shake that off, but it's difficult. Programming languages advance one popular programming language at a time--and that progress is slow.

[seabass-labrax]

Definitely A: imperative at heart. Ultimately, the modern electronic digital computer executes instructions in sequence. Whilst there are other kinds of computers that can be inherently functional (like analogue or quantum computers), a conventional CPU is not.