[plt-scheme] HTUS

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006, Nicholas Chubrich wrote:

> I'd like to submit a plea for someone to finish How to Use Scheme.  I
> think there is a need for it and it seems not to have been worked on
> since 2001.  Although a well-written, polished book would be a lot of
> work, I think one could write something nearly as useful with much less
> effort.

Hi Nicholas,

Could the Schematics Cookbook at:

    http://schemecookbook.org/

be purposed toward this?  Perhaps someone could add a few in-depth article
pages there to talk about extended "case study" examples.  I think the
main problem is that it's hard to tell where all the pieces of PLT Scheme
fit together.

I'm still learning, and personally, for someone coming from Python, I had
(have?) difficulty because I didn't know that:

    1.  Help Desk is really useful, much more so than:

        http://download.plt-scheme.org/doc/

        because unlike the link above, Help Desk also searches all the
        'doc.txt' files in each of the library collections.  (Which brings
        up the question: why isn't the mzlib docs more promenently linked
        up at:

        http://www.plt-scheme.org/software/mzscheme/docs.html

        or

        http://www.plt-scheme.org/docs.html

        ?


    2.  Modules are very important.  I know this will sound silly, but I
        had no clue at first where the "standard library" was at first,
        and finally figured out that 'mzlib' was what I was looking for.


    3.  Structures are used EVERYWHERE.  Much of the documentation out
        there assumes that structures are a familiar concept.  So there's
        a little bit of a chicken-and-egg thing going on at times.


> 	Seeing HTUS unfinished is discouraging for someone who wants to
> develop an application in PLT.  I already knew Scheme from SICP, and it
> is far and away my favorite language.  I am now trying to develop a text
> editor at least in prototype; PLT seems to have a good toolkit for doing
> this, but I must admit I almost gave up when trying to read the class.ss
> manual first.

I know what you mean; the thing to note is that those are reference
manuals, not tutorials.  I'm also learning things piecemeal and have been
keeping snippets of notes at:

    http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/plt/

I did write some notes on the class system for an audience of Java/Python
programmers:

    http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/plt/oop-notes.text

but I have to apologize about the state of those notes: none of them there
are yet anywhere near complete yet.  I need to apply myself!


I think the most realistic approach at the moment is to use the Schematics
Cookbook and get the accumulated knowledge there in top shape.  I'm
thinking of it as a deficiency that presents a lot of opportunity for
long-winded people like myself.  *grin*