LISP I Programmer's Manual - Software Preservation Group

9. Functions Available in LISPIn this section, a brief description is given of all thefunctions available in the LISP system as of March 1, 1960,A brief account is given for each function explaining the formof its argument, and its value. Whether the function is inmachine language (otherwise it must be interpreted by the APPLYoperator), and whether it is a special form is also included.In some cases, an M-expression for the function in terms of morebasic functions is appended, and in other cases a program writtenin the notation of the program feature (section 4.5) isgiven. The user of course need only give the function name andarguments--the M-expression or program are just included hereas amplified description.Since there are about ninety functions in the LISP system,they have been grouped into subgroups for easier reading. Thefunction index of Section 9.5 provides an alphabetic index forlooking up a function. Sections 9.1 and 9.2 include all thefunctions which are generally used. Section 9.1 discusses predicates,apply and -9eval simple functions, pseudo-functions fordefining other functions, functions to operate on lists, simplearithmetic functions, input-output functions, and the compilerfunctions. Section 9.2 consists of some special forms, such as- cond and quote. Section 9.3 discusses some of the less frequentlyused functions and could be skipped at first reading. Section9.4 contains rather specialized functions which have been relegatedto the Supplementary LISP System. To find out how to usea function from this last category one must consult the localexperts on LISP at M.I.T.