Function CAR in LISP program returns the first element in a list.
(car '(a b c d)) Returns a
Function CDR would return everything but the first element in a list.
(cdr '(a b c d)) returns (b c d)
There are of course many variations of this.
(cadr '(a b c d)) Returns b
Working from the inside out is the same as (car (cdr '(a b c d)))
I would insist to reintroduce "Lot of Insane and Stupid Parenthesis" somewhere this is a famous joke and has also its place in Wikipedia. Ericd 20:27 Apr 14, 2003 (UTC)
It is in there. Paragraph 2 of "Syntax". It's "Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses", btw (sometimes also "Lots of Isolated Silly Parenthesis".) -- CYD