[plt-scheme] kudos for PLT's character set support

I heave read that lambda stems from period backslash .\
So identity would have been written as (.\x.x) or shortly .\x.x
(;
Jos
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <hendrik at topoi.pooq.com>
To: <plt-scheme at list.cs.brown.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: [plt-scheme] kudos for PLT's character set support


> The origin of lambda.  It seems Curry originally wanted a kind of giant 
> circumflex accent, with one arm on the bound variable, and the other 
> stretching over to the end of its scope.  But the printer couldn't do 
> that, so they compromised on a circumflex accent on the bound variable 
> only.  Only something else went wrong, and it seems the normal 
> circumflex wasn't available either.  So the printer picked the most 
> similar character he *did* have at the moment, and it was a lambda.
> 
> So I heard from John Seldin.
> 
> It it weren't for a shortage of characters in ancient typesetting 
> equipment, we wouldn't have Unicode in PLT Scheme!
> 
> -- hendrik
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