[plt-scheme] The perfect teaching language--Is this too much to ask for?

On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 12:03:33AM -0400, hendrik at topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> Languages to look at are Algol 68, Modula 3, and Eiffel.
> 
> Modula 3 is available free from elego systems via www.modula3.org. Use 
> the cm3 compiler; it's the one that's currently maintained.  The m3devel 
> mailing list is where to ask questions.  THey're currently preparing a 
> release and discovering that all their how-to-install docs are out of 
> data, so it probably *will* require asking questions on the mailing list 
> to get started right now.
> 
> Eiffel is available free in a poorly docmented dialect called smarteifel.
> 
> I do most of my programming at the moment in Modula 3.  It's run-time 
> secure, strongly-typed, statically typed (except for a few secure ways 
> of handling dynamic data), garbage-collected, object-oriented, and 
> efficient enough to be used as a systems langauge.  An operating system 
> has been written in it.  It is wordy.  It does help to be able to type. 
> (pun intended)
> 
> -- hendrik

But none of these languages have an easy metarecursive loop, which is 
the hallmark of Lisp.  If that's what you're looking for in a teaching 
lannguage, there aren't the ones you need.

-- hendrik