[plt-scheme] brain upgrade desired

One thing to be careful of is that PLT Scheme is more than just
"Scheme". The current standard really says very little (and what is
actually specified allows implementors lots of wiggle room) so
comparing anything to just "Scheme" isn't a very useful exercise. You
must compare to a particular Scheme implementation. (Sadly. The latest
(unreleased) version of the Scheme standard is doing a better job of
making this less true, but it isn't done yet. See
http://www.r6rs.org/)

For the links in particular that Anton cites, the second one doesn't
say much and the first has a combination of untruths and things that
don't actually apply to PLT Scheme. (eg: PLT Scheme is a large
language. Also, PLT Scheme has lots and lots of numeric support. The
bit about dots and define seems to be just wrong. The namespace bit is
right (but confusing, since PLT Scheme does have multiple namespaces
but that is just a naming coincidence. the bit about defun vs define
looks right to me....)

Robby

On 5/24/07, Anton van Straaten <anton at appsolutions.com> wrote:
> hendrik at topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> > What should I read so as to become up-to-date on what has happened to
> > the language since then?  I have already noticed things like set-cdr
> > instead of rplacd.  Presumably there's a lot more, especially things
> > like library availability.
>
> There are a number of "diffs" between Common Lisp and Scheme floating
> around on the web, e.g.:
>
> http://dept-info.labri.fr/~strandh/Teaching/Langages-Enchasses/Common/Strandh-Tutorial/diff-scheme.html
> http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/schemevscl.html
>
> Googling will find others.  Common Lisp is sufficiently like older Lisps
> that some of those comparisons might be helpful.
>
> Beyond that, a comprehensive intro+reference like TSPL should be useful:
>
>    http://www.scheme.com/tspl3/
>
> And of course, the DrScheme help system is invaluable.  Install DrScheme
> if you haven't already, and start experimenting.
>
> Anton
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