Re: why are there [v e c t o r s] in Lisp?

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se> writes:

> It seems to be like this:
>
> - in terms of linear algebra, a plain, finite list
>   with one and the same base data type as elements is
>   a vector as good as any
>
> - in terms of modeling, you can do all sorts of things
>   with this concept
>
> - in terms of Elisp programming, the vector type
>   shouldn't necessarily be thought of as a linear
>   algebra concept but rather another data structure
>   that can be used for many purposes, just like the
>   Elisp list, only most often specific purposes are
>   better suited for one or the other

Yes.  One could give a precise mathematical definition of computing
objects.  Usually, computing objects would have a complicated and
trivial mathematical description, that wouldn't entirely correspond to
the usual mathematical objects used, but some mapping is possible: this
is how and why you can "represent" the usual mathematical objects with
computing objects.

If you want to see an example, of a precise mathematical definition of
the computing object, have a look at the last chapter of r5rs. 

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                 http://www.informatimago.com/
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a
dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to
keep the man from touching the equipment.” -- Carl Bass CEO Autodesk