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Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial
From: |
Tim McNamara |
Subject: |
Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support] |
Date: |
Thu, 7 Jun 2012 08:54:00 -0500 |
On Jun 6, 2012, at 6:22 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling wrote:
>
> On 05/06/12 08:53, David Kastrup wrote:
>> I would doubt that this would have been the fault of Scheme. More
>> likely a problem of the Scheme/LilyPond interface choices, but those
>> choices don't go away when replacing Scheme.
>
> No, it was the fault of the unfamiliar Scheme syntax. A colleague used to
> working with Scheme was able to solve the problems I encountered trivially
> without reference to anything LilyPond-specific.
Hmm. The way you wrote that, it appears that the fault is not with Scheme but
the with one's unfamiliarity with Scheme. This is certainly *my* problem with
understanding the Scheme-based extensions in Lilypond. And yet when I look at
them I can intuit some sense of the structure and processes of the extensions
(I have a little experience with eLisp, which helps just slightly).
Despite all the parentheses which do make one feel a bit cross-eyed, Scheme is
designed to be a simple and quickly learned language which is firmly grounded
in the principles of good computer programming- one of the reasons it is used
in teaching beginning programmers at MIT. using "pretty-printing" makes the
syntax a bit easier for humans to read. The first few chapters of SICP would
probably be very helpful.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-10.html
There is also HTDP which is Scheme based (although they now call their specific
version "Racket").
http://www.htdp.org/
In the early chapters, which is all the farther I have gotten, SICP is more
about Scheme programming and HTDP is more about the general process of thinking
about what computer programs accomplish and how to design the logic to achieve
that goal. So far I am not managing to learn the syntax rules in an afternoon,
though. :-( But then I am 52 and don't learn as quickly as I once did, and my
only computer programming class was one semester of a general ed course which
included only Fortran and punch cards ca. 1979.
- Re: Appreciation / Financial support, (continued)
- Re: Appreciation / Financial support, David Kastrup, 2012/06/05
- Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Joseph Rushton Wakeling, 2012/06/06
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Joseph Rushton Wakeling, 2012/06/09
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/10
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Henning Hraban Ramm, 2012/06/10
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/10
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Henning Hraban Ramm, 2012/06/10
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Joseph Rushton Wakeling, 2012/06/10
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support],
Tim McNamara <=
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Joseph Rushton Wakeling, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Joseph Rushton Wakeling, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], David Kastrup, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Matthew Collett, 2012/06/07
- Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages [was: Re: Appreciation / Financial support], Vaughan McAlley, 2012/06/08
Re: Appreciation / Financial support, Jonathan Wilkes, 2012/06/01