The name "SHEEP" is pun on the Lisp Algebraic Manipulator or LAM on which SHEEP is based. The package was written by Inge Frick, using earlier work by Ian Cohen and Ray d'Inverno, who had written ALAM - Atlas LISP Algebraic Manipulation in earlier (designed in 1970). SHEEP was an interactive computer package whereas LAM and ALAM were batch processing languages.