[TYPES] what is "lexical" about "lexical scoping"?

[Rishiyur Nikhil]

Isn't it just that the binding of a variable can be determined by looking
at textually surrounding scopes ('lexical' from 'textual')
as opposed to 'dynamic scoping' where a binding depends on the call chain
and can refer to a binding
that is textually arbitrary far away and unconnected with the text
structure?

Nikhil

On Thu, Jul 30, 2020 at 1:27 PM Norman Ramsey <nr at cs.tufts.edu> wrote:

> [ The Types Forum, http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> ]
>
> This question might be off topic, but I hope not---there is a lot of
> knowledge here.  Why is "lexical scoping" called "lexical"?
> I'm used to "lexical" referring to properties that describe how
> concrete syntax is formed---what constitutes a comment, how characters
> are grouped into tokens, and that sort of thing.   The "lexical scope"
> used to give meaning to a closure seems more like a property of the
> syntax, not of the lexis.
>
> Is there another meaning of "lexical" that I don't know?
> Or some interesting history?
>
>
> Norman Ramsey
>
>
>