Learning LISP/Scheme - Interpreter

Question

Hey everyone,

I've been making my way through The Little Schemer and was wondering what environment/ide/interpreter would be best to use in order to test any of the Scheme code I jot down for myself.

Thanks

Answer 1

Dr Scheme has a nice editor, several different Scheme dialects, an attempt at visual debugging, lots of libraries, and can run on most platforms. It even has some modes specifically geared around learning the language.

Answer 2

I used MIT Scheme.

Answer 3

PLT Scheme (DrScheme) is one of the best IDEs out there, especially for Scheme. The package you get when downloading it contains all you need for developing Scheme code - libraries, documentation, examples, and so on. Highly recommended.

Answer 4

LispMe works on a Palm Pilot, take it anywhere, and scheme on the go. GREAT way to learn scheme.

Answer 5

If you just want to test your scheme code, I would recommend PLT Scheme. It offers a very complete environment, with debugger, help, etc., and works on most platforms.

But if you also want to get an idea of how the interpreter behind the scenes works, and have Visual Studio, I would recommend Tachy. It is a very lightweight scheme interpreter written in c#. It allows you to debug just your scheme code, or also step through the c# interpreter behind the scenes to see what is going on.

Answer 6

I've used PLT as mentioned in some of the other posts and it works quite nicely. One that I have read about but have not used is Allegro Common LISP Express. I read a stellar review about their database app called Allegro Cache and found that they are heavy into LISP. Like I said, I don't know if it's any good, but it might be worth a try.

Answer 7

I would highly recommend both Chicken and Gauche for scheme.

Answer 8

It doesn't matter, as long as you subscribe to the mailing list(wiki/irc/online-community-site) for the associated community. It's probably worth taking a look at the list description and archives to be sure you are in the right one.

Most of these are friendly and welcoming to newcomers, so don't be afraid to ask.

It's also worth searching the archives of their mailing list(or FAQ or whatever they use) when you have a question - just in case it is a frequent question.

Good Luck!

Answer 9

Just as a reminder: most Scheme implementations are NOT interpreters but compilers...

Answer 10

Just for the record I have to mention IronScheme.

IronScheme will aim to be a R6RS conforming Scheme implementation based on the Microsoft DLR.

Version 1.0 Beta 1 was just released. I think this should be good implementation for someone that is already using .NET framework.

EDIT
Current version is 1.0 RC 1 from Oct 23 2009

Answer 11

Google for the book's authors (Daniel Friedman and Matthias Felleisen). See whether either of them is involved with a popular, free, existing Scheme implementation.