[plt-scheme] tutorial on threads in scheme ?

On 7/25/07, Ivan Altaparmakov <ialt at tu-sofia.bg> wrote:
>
> erlang is using pattern matching , and concurrency
> is strongly integrated in this pattern matching.
>
> Is this the case with scheme pattern matching?

Almost. PLT Scheme's pattern matching forms are in a library, not the
base language.  This means you have to type a few more characters to
use pattern matching.

> By the way it is also  not possible (such as for threads) to start using
> pat. match. in scheme only by reading documentation.

The Scheme Cookbook has a little bit that might be helpful:

http://schemecookbook.org/Cookbook/PatternMatchingChapter

> I think that help system should be more beginner oriented / friendly
> (i.e there have to be more guiding principles for programming , not only
> description of functions)

I agree that the existing documentation is no very good for beginners.
 Here are two ways around it:

 - You can try reading the documentation for PLT Scheme 4.0, which is
better in this respect, though the docs are not yet finished (as 4.0
has not been released).  Look in collects/scribblings

 - Many of ideas you'll find in Scheme are common in the functional
programming community.  You can understand concurrency libraries by
reading up on Erlang.  You can read up on ML or Haskell pattern
matching to understand how it works in Scheme.  Obviously there are
some differences but the general ideas carry across.

HTH,
Noel