'intern'ing in the Lisp world usually means to create a new object and put it under its name into some datastructure for later retrieval, unless the object already exists -> then the object is just retrieved.
The typical example is to intern a symbol into a symbol table (list, array, or in Common Lisp into a package). Here the symbol table is searched for a symbol with the required name. If it exists, the symbol will be returned. If it does not exist, the symbol will be created and registered in the symbol table.
But one might also use the word 'intern' for an operation to retrieve/put a user into a group, retrieve/put a resource into a pool, or similar operations.
The function INTERN dates back at least to Lisp 1.5 from 1962. See the Lisp 1.5 Programmer's Manual.
The typical example is to intern a symbol into a symbol table (list, array, or in Common Lisp into a package). Here the symbol table is searched for a symbol with the required name. If it exists, the symbol will be returned. If it does not exist, the symbol will be created and registered in the symbol table.
But one might also use the word 'intern' for an operation to retrieve/put a user into a group, retrieve/put a resource into a pool, or similar operations.
The function INTERN dates back at least to Lisp 1.5 from 1962. See the Lisp 1.5 Programmer's Manual.