The concept of automatic memory management dates back to the 1950s. However, Joh... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		andsoitis 76 days ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Why study programming languages (2022) The concept of automatic memory management dates back to the 1950s. However, John McCarthy, the creator of Lisp, introduced the first widely recognized garbage collection mechanism around 1959/1960.

kragen 76 days ago [–]

If so, he didn't write about it in that paper, and I don't think he introduced it at all; I think Slug Russell did.

Correction: as Rochus pointed out, he certainly did write about it in that paper, giving a complete description.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact