Drinkable Chicken

As astute readers will have noticed, most of my posts are currently fairly simplistic. Like the “Python vs Scheme” variety… while I think these posts are useful to Pythoneers that want to know more about Scheme, it’s hardly rocket science. (Heck, it’s not even *computer* science. :-)

There will be more of these posts, covering the basics of Scheme (which fortunately is a rather small language). It’s not exactly a tutorial… I merely want to outline the differences between Python, Scheme and possibly some other languages. I realize that this may not be very interesting if you already know Scheme (or are unwilling to learn it).

But things won’t always be that way. Once the basics are out of the way, I want to look at some topics that are slightly more advanced. Like the SRFIs, and how they extend Scheme, and how to use them for practical purposes. Ditto for Chicken’s eggs. I will also attempt to write a project or two in Chicken, and report my findings (and questions, stumpers, etc). (In fact, I am already working on something… more on that later.) And maybe eventually I’ll be able to contribute and lay write an egg.

Along the way, I’m hoping to learn about many things… continuations, test suites in Scheme, object systems, hygienic (and dirty) macros, threading, DSLs, database access, ORMs, web development, interfacing to C libraries, SDL, parsing, reader macros, and whatever comes to mind. I am going to assume that a Lisp-like language can do *everything*, and will treat it as such. :-)

I am especially interested in using Chicken for things that I’m currently using Python for. I am used to working with code that is readable and easily maintainable, and I want to have these same standards for Chicken. I believe that it should be possible to write Scheme that is (nearly) as readable as equivalent Python code. (This contrary to popular belief.) I also want to use Chicken for scripting, text manipulation, and other tasks that Python excels at. And maybe games… Who knows.

Well, all I can say is, watch this space. :-)

(Oh, and people, I’m *learning*! (Scheme and Chicken, that is. Not Python, I’ve been using it since 1996. :-) So if you are an experienced Schemer and you see something that is wrong, or have additional information that could be useful, or tips… feel free to comment.)