[plt-scheme] Re: Change the World

--- Geoffrey Knauth <geoff at knauth.org> wrote:

> I'm trying to guess what makes it hard for Scheme to
> "catch on" in the 
> mainstream.  I don't think it's parentheses.  I think
> it's that bad 
> Scheme blows up in the developer's face more dramatically
> than bad Java.  

I'm with Alex:

It's lack of available tools, libraries, and community to
enable rapid development of typical apps.  We're getting
there, but it is taking a long time.  DB bindings (for 299
please) would be really helpful, as would contribs to the
Cookbook.  I'm blowing my own trumpet, but I find the
Cookbook really useful when writing Scheme scripts, which I
have done a lot recently.

Another reason: 00 knowledge isn't directly transferrable
to FP, and so the gap has been too great for people to just
give Scheme a try.  The hip kids in the mainstream have
been slowly hill-climbing from Perl -> Python -> Ruby and
may be ready for Scheme as their next step.  This isn't to
imply Scheme is strictly better than Ruby.   I don't know
Ruby well, but I suspect there are ease-of-use elements
that Scheme could usefully acquire from Ruby.

Cheers,
Noel

Email: noelwelsh <at> yahoo <dot> com
AIM: noelhwelsh


		
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