[plt-scheme] There is a common theme here -- really

From: Greg Woodhouse (gregory.woodhouse at sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jan 11 17:56:05 EST 2006

I guess I feel like I've been pestering the list with all kinds of
unrelated questions, often seeming to come out of the blue. Well...

- I like OS X and would really prfer to use it as a development
platform if at all possible.
- I really like Scheme and the combination of features in PLT Scheme.
- That means, for example, that I don't to commit myself to a platform
where PLT Scheme is not (yet) available.
- I've worked in medical information systems for years, meaning that as
much as I like Scheme, database support really is a must.
- Beyond that, I've generally specialized in systems exhibiting a high
degree of concurrency, and this is a basic feature of VistA, the EHR
system for which I've been a developer these last 15 years. Does that
fit with FP? I didn't think so at first, but am certainly intrigued by
the web server.
- VistA is 30 years old. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but
I'm convinced that it needs to evolve and, well, the most wonderful car
in the world is still going to start encountering problems after
170,000 miles or so.
- Though most of my professional work has focused on MUMPS, I'm always
anxious to learn new things. I've been enthusiastic about Java, but now
am beginning to have my doubts. Suffice it to say that PLT Scheme seems
to me to offer many/most of the advantages of Java while being simpler,
more elegant, and certainly no less powerful.
- I'm still learning. In fact, I just picked up SICP two day ago (or
rather, it arrived in the mail). No doubt, I'll have basic language
questions that seem out of place on this list or write crazy bits of
code that betray my lack of experience with Scheme.

So I hope that you don't mind my sometimes importunate, sometimes
exasperating questions too much. I hope that it won't be too long
before I can start giving back.

===
Gregory Woodhouse  <gregory.woodhouse at sbcglobal.net>
"If you give someone Fortran, he has Fortran.
If you give someone Lisp, he has any language he pleases."
--Guy L. Steele, Jr. 


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