[plt-scheme] typed teaching languages

You probably want

(require (for-syntax scheme/base))

and then a whole bunch of other changes too :)

Robby

On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Todd O'Bryan<toddobryan at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK, I've dug into teachprims.ss, but immediately hit a problem.
>
> I changed the language to
>
> #lang typed-scheme
>
> but if I try to run the file, I get an immediate error before I make
> anymore changes:
>
> compile: unbound identifier in the transformer environment (and no
> #%app syntax transformer is bound) in: syntax-case
>
> Does Typed Scheme interact strangely with macros so that I'd have to
> unpack all the define-teach definitions in the teachprims file, or am
> I just doing something stupid?
>
> Todd
>
> On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 1:17 PM, Todd O'Bryan<toddobryan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I guess the big problem I'm having dealing with the primitives in
>> places like beginner-funs.ss and teachprims.ss is that they use a lot
>> of macros--provide-and-document and define-teach--to name two. Is it
>> safe to just change the languages in those files to typed-scheme and
>> stick in a type annotation, or will that have some kind of weird
>> interaction with the macro-provided definitions and the later
>> renaming? I really need to get a good handle on macros and I just
>> don't have it yet.
>>
>> I considered trying OCaml, but currying of functions, the lack of
>> warnings about function arguments not appearing in application
>> positions, and the wealth of other stuff that the teaching languages
>> do convinced me it was just a bad idea.
>>
>> Todd
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Matthias Felleisen<matthias at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> The languages are located in collects/lang/htdp*. The primitives come from
>>> private/ and are obviously labeled as such. Create copies and introduce type
>>> checking at your leisure.
>>>
>>> ;; ---
>>>
>>> WARNING: If you really believe that type checking should be an integral part
>>> of the first few weeks, you do NOT need to use Typed Scheme for this
>>> purpose. The type system of Typed Scheme is designed so that programmers can
>>> easily port existing Scheme code, programmed in an idiomatic manner, into a
>>> typed setting -- with little more effort than annotating all binding
>>> occurrences of variables and fields (aka declarations). It isn't perfect in
>>> this manner but it's the best such practical effort out there.
>>>
>>> Since your programming novices are NOT porting code and you DO NOT wish to
>>> program in the specific idioms of Scheme, I recommend that you spare
>>> yourself the rather large implementation effort for now and experiment with
>>> OCAML instead. The language is quite similar to Scheme but comes with a
>>> native type system. (I strongly recommend always using type annotations and
>>> to shunt type inference as much as possible.) Use only those constructs that
>>> are close to the ones in HtDP teaching languages. While this doesn't give
>>> you the teaching languages, it restricts the potential for truly weird
>>> syntax errors.
>>>
>>> ;; ---
>>>
>>> IN GENERAL, we have not thought through the exact nature of the type system
>>> that is appropriate for novice programmers. We do know, however, that we can
>>> build a contract system that supports dynamic checking. Doing so will be our
>>> next step.
>>>
>>> The DEIN PROGRAM sister project in Germany (included in the core
>>> distribution) has beaten us this time and has already done so. I suspect our
>>> solution will be similar to theirs.
>>>
>>> ;; ---
>>>
>>> Good luck -- Matthias
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 8, 2009, at 12:05 PM, Todd O'Bryan wrote:
>>>
>>>> Can somebody explain how the structure of the HtDP teaching languages
>>>> works?
>>>>
>>>> I'm interested in, as an experiment, having my students write type
>>>> annotations for their programs, just to see whether it clears up their
>>>> type confusions or makes it even harder for them to get things right.
>>>> I've received advice from several people stating that this is a bad
>>>> idea and that I am going to create a great deal of pain for myself, so
>>>> I've been forewarned. Realize, however, that I'll spend probably two
>>>> months dealing with simple functions and structures before I ever get
>>>> to lists, so the problems of polymorphism that rear their heads so
>>>> early in a typical college class won't bother me until Halloween or
>>>> so. I'm willing to risk the pain, and I'm even willing to accept the
>>>> laughing and pointing that are likely to occur when I give up and tell
>>>> everyone that I now accept that this was just a bad idea.
>>>>
>>>> But I can't even get things to begin to work, because I can't grok how
>>>> the teaching languages are structured. How would I go about adding
>>>> types and type checking (provided by Typed Scheme) to the language
>>>> constructs of Beginning Student? I tried obvious things like changing
>>>> scheme/base to typed-scheme in the htdp-beginner files, but I end up
>>>> not being able to make the colon type annotation available and when I
>>>> try to run programs I get errors saying that there are type
>>>> annotations missing.
>>>>
>>>> David Van Horn provided me with some work he started on in this vein,
>>>> but he was working with Advanced Student rather than Beginning and the
>>>> internal structure of each of the teaching languages is so complicated
>>>> that I can't tell which htdp-advanced's I can just replace with
>>>> htdp-beginner's and which ones I have to reconstruct.
>>>>
>>>> Is there a document anywhere that describes how the teaching languages
>>>> are built or is it all just in the code?
>>>>
>>>> Parenthetically, it's really hard to figure out where things are
>>>> coming from as I'm trying to read through Scheme code without running
>>>> Check Syntax and using Jump to Definition. Is this the normal state of
>>>> Scheme coding or am I missing something that would make figuring out
>>>> how the pieces fit together easier?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Todd
>>>> _________________________________________________
>>>>  For list-related administrative tasks:
>>>>  http://list.cs.brown.edu/mailman/listinfo/plt-scheme
>>>
>>>
>>
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