[FOM] "Recursive"

[Jeff Hirst]

Lucius Schoenbaum asked about the history of the notion
of primitive recursion.  In his article "Computability and
Recursion" (Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, Volume 2 No. 2,
September 1996, pages 284-321), Robert Soare states that
his purpose is to "examine the meaning, origin, and
history of the concepts `recursive` and `computable`
with an eye toward re-examining how we use them in
practice."

For a treatment of history of concepts from theoretical
computing and mathematical logic that is directed at a
more general audience, I particularly like "The Universal
Computer," by Martin Davis.

This list is by no means exhaustive.  These are just the
first two sources that came to (my) mind.

-Jeff Hirst
-- 
Jeff Hirst   jlh at math.appstate.edu
Professor of Mathematics
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC  28608
vox:828-262-2861    fax:828-265-8617