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When / why did Lisps start using semicolons for comments?

What is the history of the semicolon used for comments in Lisp and its dialects?

The guy in our group thought using semicolons was the first in Java and Co.

I mentioned that Lisp is older than C, but I realized that:

  • C was not the first language to use a semicolon as a separator of statements (what was? Algol?)
  • I don't know when Lisps started using semicolons for comments.
  • and I don’t know why Lisps started using semicolons for comments
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2 answers

The semicolons look like operator sequencers (not terminators) in Algol68.

LISP 1.5 was a punched card, so comments would probably have been written on the cards themselves, I think? The manual does not indicate that there is a mechanism for commenting in the language.

The Stanford Lisp 1.6 manual shows semicolon comments.

As for the origins, I would look that if early assemblers used something to indicate comments. Of course, semicolons are common enough in current ones.

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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/899712/

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