How does Java drag C++ coders "halfway to Lisp?"

Question

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How is Java inspired by Lisp?

From Paul Graham:

"We were after the C++ programmers. We managed to drag a lot of them about halfway to Lisp."

• Guy Steele, co-author of the Java spec

I've thought about this, and it just doesn't make any sense. Out of all the "Lisp-ish" features on Graham's list, the only one that Java has and C++ does not is the most incidental one, garabage collection. On the other hand, C++ has function pointers, which makes it possible to pass a function as an argument to a higher-order function, whereas Java does not, and it requires ugly, kludgy workarounds to emulate them.

Seems to me that if you wanted to get C++ coders accustomed to Lisp style, (i.e. functional programming,) giving them a new language without the single most fundamental feature of functional programming is a huge step backwards. So what am I missing?

Answer 1

You should cite the quote and quote it in context. It looks like a somewhat flippant and less than serious remark on a Newsgroup to me.