Based on my inbox, my
Scheme is Love piece has gotten a lot of people interested in Scheme and Lisp.
Here's the best way to get started:
Install
DrScheme. I use the Windows version, and it's great.
Read
R5RS. Frankly, one of the things that makes Scheme great (in my mind at least) is the clarity of R5RS.
Buy a copy of
The Scheme Programming Language by Kent Dybvig. You can read it online
here, but I'm a big fan of printed books. I found that between TSPL/3e and R5RS, I was able to become pretty proficient pretty fast.
I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend
SICP, which is also
available online. It's less about learning Scheme and more about learning a new way to think. Either way, it's a purple pill everyone should swallow at some point in their lives.
Finally, spend some time reading stuff listed at
readscheme.org. It's a great bibliography site that makes it easy to get into this space. I had my call/cc epiphany while reading papers listed there - you will too.
Finally, I found Paul Graham's
ANSI Common Lisp to be an excellent companion to see how the other half lives. There are no shortage of bad Lisp books - this one was a real gem.
Posted
Sep 25 2005, 06:49 PM
by
don-box