Good Scheme book...

Jeff Massung

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Feb 5, 2004, 1:52:17 PM2/5/04

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Okay, I'm looking to get into Scheme again after a long pause. I've been
looking on the web (mainly Amazon) for a good book to bring me up-to-date
on function names, types, etc. Any recommendations?

So far, the one book I've bought is "Lisp In Small Pieces" -- an
excellent book, no doubt, and focuses on using Scheme, but not a
reference to be sure.

Others that I've read reviews on and am thinking about are:

o The Little Schemer
o The Seasoned Schemer
o The Scheme Programming Language
o Simply Scheme

I don't need a tutorial on Lisp/Scheme, recursion or anything like that,
just a good reference with some examples (and maybe some good reading in
general).

Thanks!

--
Best regards,
Jeff jma[at]mfire.com
http://www.jm-basic.com

Bruce Lewis

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Feb 5, 2004, 1:56:59 PM2/5/04

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Jeff Massung <j...@NOSPAM.mfire.com> writes:

> I don't need a tutorial on Lisp/Scheme, recursion or anything like that,
> just a good reference with some examples (and maybe some good reading in
> general).

I think R5RS fits that description.

Hrvoje Blazevic

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Feb 5, 2004, 2:07:32 PM2/5/04

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The only book that fits this description is "The Scheme Programming
Language 2e"

As a second choice you can take a look at "Scheme and the Art of
Programming", but this one is more CS than Scheme itself.

All the other books you mention are mostly CS.

-- Hrvoje

Jeff Massung

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Feb 5, 2004, 3:08:43 PM2/5/04

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Hrvoje Blazevic <hrv...@despammed.com> wrote in
news:bvu4g8$5qd$1...@ls219.htnet.hr:

> Jeff Massung wrote:
>> I don't need a tutorial on Lisp/Scheme, recursion or anything like
>> that, just a good reference with some examples (and maybe some good
>> reading in general).
>>
>
> The only book that fits this description is "The Scheme Programming
> Language 2e"
>
> As a second choice you can take a look at "Scheme and the Art of
> Programming", but this one is more CS than Scheme itself.
>
> All the other books you mention are mostly CS.
>
> -- Hrvoje
>
>

Thank you. While checking reviews of this book on Amazon, I've come
across another... SICP?

Hrvoje Blazevic

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Feb 5, 2004, 4:00:57 PM2/5/04

to

Jeff Massung wrote:
>
> Thank you. While checking reviews of this book on Amazon, I've come
> across another... SICP?
>

This is *the* book to be read by all. And BTW, disregard the drivel
written as reviews on Amazon about that book. However you asked for the
book that teaches Scheme, and not the book that uses Scheme to teach CS.

The problem with recommending a good Scheme book (as opposed to
recommending good books for most other languages is the quality of CS
books that use Scheme). *All* are very good, and I always felt that by
choosing only 3-4 of them is not fair to the others. Anyway, here's the
bare minimum: (as I see it)

1. HtDP
2. SICP
3. EoPL2
4. tSPL2

Number 5 would be the one you are reading now, LiSP, but there are many
others fitting somewhere in between (all excellent)

Simply Scheme
The Little Schemer
The Seasoned Schemer

Scheme and the Art of Programming

-- Hrvoje

Bradd W. Szonye

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Feb 5, 2004, 9:27:24 PM2/5/04

to

Jeff Massung <j...@NOSPAM.mfire.com> wrote:
> Okay, I'm looking to get into Scheme again after a long pause. I've been
> looking on the web (mainly Amazon) for a good book to bring me up-to-date
> on function names, types, etc. Any recommendations?
>
> So far, the one book I've bought is "Lisp In Small Pieces" -- an
> excellent book, no doubt, and focuses on using Scheme, but not a
> reference to be sure.
>
> Others that I've read reviews on and am thinking about are:
>
> o The Little Schemer
> o The Seasoned Schemer

These focus more on teaching recursion and the use of design patterns.
They use only a small subset of Scheme, so I wouldn't recommend them for
learning Scheme. (But I would recommend them in general.)

Some of the other recommendations are similar: How to Design Programs,
Elements of Programming Languages, and Structure and Interpretation of
Computer Programs are all good textbooks, but they all use Scheme more
as a means to an end rather than focusing on teaching Scheme itself.

If you just want a language reference, go for the "Revised^5 Report on
Scheme," aka R5RS. It's the de facto Scheme standard. You can find a
copy at Aubrey Jaffer's website, IIRC.
--
Bradd W. Szonye
http://www.szonye.com/bradd