From: ·······@rt66.com (David B. Thomas)
http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/offering.txt
thanks for sharing this GEB-like dialogue with us.
i've only skimmed it. does it have a point?
amazon.com:
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* Common Lisp : A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic
Computation -- David S. Touretzky; Paperback
* Lisp : A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation
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i like this GEB-inspired "Dragon's recursive dream".
(page 198-)
"I had a most curious dream," the dragon said.
"It was a recursive dream, in fact." [...]
"Last night I was looking at a long loaf of bread, and I
wondered how many slices it would make. To answer my question I
actually went and cut one slice from the loaf. But now what? I
had one slice, one slightly shorter loaf of bread, and no
answer. I kept puzzling and puzzling over the problem until
finally I fell asleep."
"And that's when you had the dream?" Martin asked.
"Yes, a very curious one. I dreamed about another dragon, who
had a loaf of bread just like mine except his was a slice
shorter. [...]"
[i (TT) am tired of typing. Lispers and GEBers would
get the picture.]
"I get it!" Martin said. "[...] How many slices did your
loaf make?"
"Twenty-seven," said the dragon. "It was a very long dream."
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(defun count-slices (x)
(if (null? x)
0
(1+ (count-slices (rest x)))))
--
;;; TANAKA Tomoyuki
;;; http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka/GEB/ "GEB" FAQ