In the 1970s at MIT's AI Lab:

• Launched a revolution in computer programming with Lisp.
• Lisp had a simple core explainable in a few pages.
• Pioneered concepts now fundamental in programming.
• Dan Weinreb and colleagues developed Lisp machines.

Steve Herrell in Cambridge:

• Graduated in 1967 and became a high school English teacher.
• Tinkered with an ice cream freezer to slow it down.
• Opened Steve's Ice Cream in 1973 in Somerville.
• No typical ice cream parlor with unique features.
• Made a big innovation by letting customers mix in candies, etc.

Howard Cannon at the AI Lab:

• Working on an object-oriented extension to Lisp for Lisp machines.
• Dealt with the fundamental problem of multiple inheritance.
• His system offered a satisfactory resolution.

Inspiration from ice cream:

• Engineers went to Steve's for ice cream breaks.
• Cannon got inspiration from mixing flavors and classes.
• Called his programming language "Flavors" with "Mix-ins".

The fates of mix-ins:

• Cannon's mix-ins led to Symbolics and a novel display system.
• Aspects of mix-ins were adopted by mainstream languages.
• Herrell's mix-ins influenced many ice cream stores.

Today:

• Steve's no longer exists.
• The original Northampton Herrell's still serves customers.
• Shardul Chiplunkar did UROP at CSAIL and researches programming languages.