Subj : Re: Four Programming Questions
To   : comp.programming
From : akarl
Date : Sun Aug 14 2005 01:01 pm

Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t wrote:
>>From: Casey Hawthorne <caseyhHAMMER_T...@istar.ca>
>>For learning the ideas of computer science try Scheme - simple syntax
> 
> 
> For beginning lessons, you don't need to learn the full syntax that the
> Lisp dialect offers. You can restrict the lessons to just those parts
> of the syntax that all three major dialects (CL, Scheme, Emacs Lisp)
> have in common. Then what you learn is directly applicable to all three
> dialects instead of just one, and after the student knows *how* to
> program, then the student can choose for him/herself which of the three
> dialects or which other language to go deeper into. Or maybe the first
> semester can cover only the syntax in common between all three, then
> the second semester can cover the variations in syntax and libraries
> that give each language some advantage over the others for certain
> kinds of applications.

Scheme is the cleanest of the three dialects you mention. If you know 
Scheme it shouldn't be difficult to learn e.g. Elisp (despite the 
different scoping rules).

August

.