Computing

Most of our computing will be done in PLT Scheme and/or Larceny.

PLT Scheme features a programming environment that includes a built-in editor and graphical debugging tools. On the other hand, PLT Scheme was designed to support the all-in-one-file programs that beginners write; for larger programs, PLT Scheme encourages programmers to use nonstandard syntax that will not be accepted in the machine problems you submit for this course. The current version of PLT Scheme is v4.1 or thereabouts.

Larceny has no programming environment to speak of, but Larceny supports ERR5RS and is more convenient than PLT Scheme for executing R6RS programs that define their own libraries. The current version of Larceny is v0.97b1.

Both PLT Scheme and Larceny are supposed to have been installed on the Windows machines in the labs. You may also download PLT Scheme and/or Larceny for your own personal computer. Both PLT Scheme and Larceny are available for Windows XP, MacOS X (both PowerPC and Intel IA32), Linux, and Solaris.

As of this writing, PLT Scheme and Larceny appear to be the only implementations that support both of the R5RS and R6RS standards. If the instructor learns of other implementations that would be suitable for this course, he will list them on this web page.

Homework will be submitted by transferring your files to a Solaris machine, where you will use a Unix script to send your files to the graders.