Tag Archives: Scheme

Scheme as a Prototyping Language

Posted on 2022-02-26 by jcs

The other day I saw a link to this short essay on using Scheme as a prototyping language by Jonathan Sobel. The TL;DR is that Sobel was taking an Algorithms class and was assigned a project to implement the fast … Continue reading →

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Why Learn Scheme

Posted on 2022-02-22 by jcs

Back when I was learning Scheme, my go to implementation was DrScheme. It had great libraries, an excellent IDE, ran on Windows, Macs, and Linux, and produced good standalone code. Eventually it drifted away from the Scheme specification and was … Continue reading →

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Guile Hacker Handbook

Posted on 2021-11-24 by jcs

I recently came across the Guile Hacker Handbook, a work in progress that’s worth a look for any Guile hackers. After some sections on installing Guile (and Emacs) the handbook considers various Scheme constructs and how to use and test … Continue reading →

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The Guile Hacker’s Handbook

Posted on 2021-01-07 by jcs

Jeremy Korwin has an interesting project underway. He’s writing a Guile hacker’s handbook. Guile, of course, is the official GNU extension language. Korwin’s idea is to document what a beginning Guile hacker needs to know to install, and learn the … Continue reading →

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The Wizard Book Cover Explained

Posted on 2020-10-20 by jcs

A lot of you probably know that Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, SICP, is also called “The Wizard Book.” A glace at its cover explains the alternate name but Conor Hoekstra has a more thorough explanation of the cover: … Continue reading →

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SICP with JavaScript

Posted on 2020-01-03 by jcs

ADDED BEFORE PUBLICATION: This isn’t really a Red Meat Friday item but the content could be considered controversial and it is Friday so if you’ve been yearning for another Red Meat Friday post, you’re welcome. I’ve been dithering on whether … Continue reading →

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Implementing Palindrome Predicates

Posted on 2019-12-26 by jcs

Joe Marshall is a long-time Lisper with an ability to come up with really elegant solutions. Indeed, the second ever Irreal post was about Marshall’s brilliant solution to a problem from SICP. Recently, he recounted a story about a recent … Continue reading →

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An Interview With Hal Abelson

Posted on 2019-10-29 by jcs

Many of you know that I consider Abelson’s & Sussman’s Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) one of the best Computer Science books ever written. Although I read it late in my career, it opened my eyes to a … Continue reading →

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The Most Beautiful Program Ever Written

Posted on 2017-07-29 by jcs

If you’re a lisper and enjoy Scheme, you may like William Byrd’s video on The Most Beautiful Program Ever Written. Unless you’ve been immersed in the Lisp culture, it’s probably not what you think. According to Byrd, the most beautiful … Continue reading →

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A Warning Ignored

Posted on 2017-04-23 by jcs

I tried to warn Grant but he wouldn’t listen1. Now I’m running around with my hair on fire yelling at a cloud. Footnotes: 1 Actually, it’s an old post predating my warning but someone just posted a link to it … Continue reading →

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