Scheme (programming language): Difference between revisions

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The '''Scheme programming language''' is a [[functional programming language|functional]] [[programming language]] which is a dialect of [[Lisp]]. It was developed by [[Guy L. Steele]] and [[Gerald J. Sussman]] in the [[1970s]] and introduced to the academic world via a series of papers now referred to as Sussman and Steele's 'Lambda Papers.'

It was the first variety of Lisp to feature [[lexical variable scoping]] rather than [[dynamic variable scoping]]. Like Lisp, Scheme supports [[computer memory garbage collection|garbage collection]] of unreferenced data. It uses lists as primary data structure, and list operations such as cdr and car.

Like Lisp, Scheme supports [[computer memory garbage collection|garbage collection]]

of unreferenced data. It uses lists as primary data structure, and list operations such as cdr and car.

Scheme's philosophy is unashamedly minimalist: provide as few primitive notions as possible, and let everything else be implemented on top of them. For instance, the main mechanism for governing control flow is [[tail recursion]].

Scheme's philosophy is unashamedly minimalist:

provide as few primitive notions as possible,

and let everything else be implemented on top

of them. For instance, the main mechanism for

governing control flow is [[tail recursion]].

Why the curious name? Well, it was originally called "Schemer", in the tradition of the languages [[Planner programming language|Planner]] and [[Conniver programming language|Conniver]], but its authors used the [[ITS operating system]] which didn't allow filenames longer than 6 characters.

Why the curious name? Well, it was originally

called "Schemer", in the tradition of the

languages [[Planner programming language|Planner]]

and [[Conniver programming language|Conniver]],

but its authors used the [[ITS operating system]]

which didn't allow filenames longer than 6 characters.

=== Standards ===

There are two standards that define the Scheme language: the official IEEE standard, and a de facto standard called the ''Revised^{n^th} Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme'', nearly always abbreviated RⁿRS, where <I>n</I> is the number of the revision. The latest RⁿRS version is R⁵RS, available online at http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/ .

=== Examples ===