Question from a beginner. Why Racket Over Scheme?

joseph turco

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Jul 13, 2021, 10:13:38 AM7/13/21

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Hello,

Im am looking at learning a programming language, and have been bouncing around with scheme/racket/dyalog APL/squeak. upon investigation of scheme and racket, i found that in regards to racket, there really isn't a "Beginners book" that teaches the language. The only beginner book i could really see being close to teaching the language is HtDP, but that doesn't technically teach racket, but BSL. For scheme, im able to find beginner books, unless im not looking deep enough. Maybe if you fine folk don't mind pointing me in the right direction? Please excuse my ignorance.

-- Joseph T

John Clements

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Jul 13, 2021, 10:22:05 AM7/13/21

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Good to hear from you! There are actually a number of different books that I might suggest. In order to best direct you, it might be useful to know something about your programming background?

Best,

John Clements

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joseph turco

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Jul 13, 2021, 10:47:01 AM7/13/21

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Sure! I have dabbled into python (but not fully, only learned variables, lists, dictionaries, for loops, if statements, while loops), but other than that i dont have much experience. I do not have a CS degree or (unfortunately) plan to get one. This is purely for a hobby.

George Neuner

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Jul 13, 2021, 10:56:26 AM7/13/21

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Welcome.

Racket[*] largely is based on Scheme, and so much of what you learn about Scheme will transfer. Racket supports R5RS and R6RS Scheme as legacy languages, so you can learn about Scheme /using/ Racket and its tools. Then when you are more comfortable, you can transition to using the Racket module language instead.

George
[*] At least the untyped Racket language. Racket really is a /suite/ of languages: there also is a typed Racket, a lazy Racket, and various DSLs (domain languages) which compile to and (mostly) freely intermix with Racket.

joseph turco

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Jul 13, 2021, 11:12:09 AM7/13/21

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I see. The stuff in HtDP, does it transfer over to any Racket syntax?

Robby Findler

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Jul 13, 2021, 11:20:07 AM7/13/21

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I would say that the stuff in HtDP is teaching you the fundamentals of programming; it isn't (about) teaching you a specific programming language. These fundamentals apply to any programming language you might wish to program in. And, of course, the book does use a (set of) languages to teach you, but that's more about having something so that you can practice than it is about teaching you the specifics of BSL.

If your goal is to learn how to program, just in general, I think HtDP is the book for you. If your goal is something else, then HtDP may not be for you.

I should also add that I think that the learning the fundamentals of how to program is a wonderful thing and I am very happy that I have learned them. It is even better than my job overlaps with my favorite hobby (which happens to be programming); I consider myself extremely lucky because of that!

best,

Robby

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John Clements

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Jul 13, 2021, 2:35:50 PM7/13/21

to Robby Findler, joseph turco, George Neuner, racket users

Allow me to be very slightly less cautious than Robby: it may not be clear from this text that nearly every BSL program is also a Racket program *and* a Scheme program. If you work through HtDP—or even a part of it—you will be, I claim, both a Scheme and a Racket programmer. (And perhaps also a better Python, C, and Haskell programmer).

In other words: if your concern is that HtDP will not teach you Scheme, you need not worry.

John

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Joseph Turco

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Jul 20, 2021, 10:57:55 PM7/20/21

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Thanks, im not too concerned about carrying it over to other languages. I just wanted to know if racket is the right language for me to learn, BSL being the first ste
p