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Scheme

The whole early MIT culture reflected in the MIT Scheme.

To do everything just right

  • Strong typing (type-tagged values)
  • Just a few special forms (lambda, define, cond, let)
  • Numeric tower (proper, “safe” math)
  • The List structure everywhere (biology-inspired uniformity)
  • Partial application can be implemented as a function
  • Proper macros (no accidental capturing of vars)
  • R5RS was the peak
  • OOP features were just a DSL (a library).
  • MIT Scheme is still alive and well. Serious, state-of-the-art engineering.
  • Chez Scheme is even better technologically

    Records and Modules were notably missing from the standard.

    Nowadays Racket is the state-of-the-art system.

Author: <schiptsov@gmail.com>

Email: lngnmn2@yahoo.com

Created: 2023-08-08 Tue 18:36

Emacs 29.1.50 (Org mode 9.7-pre)