Product Description
Scheme is a general-purpose programming language, descended from Algol and Lisp, widely used in computing education and research and a broad range of industrial applications. This thoroughly updated edition of The Scheme Programming Language provides an introduction to Scheme and a definitive reference for standard Scheme, presented in a clear and concise manner. Written for professionals and students with some prior programming experience, it begins by leading the programmer gently through the basics of Scheme and continues with an introduction to some of the more advanced features of the language.

The fourth edition has been substantially revised and expanded to bring the content up to date with the current Scheme standard, the Revised⁶ Report on Scheme. All parts of the book were updated and three new chapters were added, covering the language's new library, exception handling, and record-definition features.

The book offers three chapters of introductory material with numerous examples, eight chapters of reference material, and one chapter of extended examples and additional exercises. All of the examples can be entered directly from the keyboard into an interactive Scheme session. Answers to many of the exercises, a complete formal syntax of Scheme, and a summary of forms and procedures are provided in appendixes.

The Scheme Programming Language is the only book available that serves both as an introductory text in a variety of courses and as an essential reference for Scheme programmers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Scheme Language Book
Great text for learning scheme. I got into Scheme first because I heard it's more minimal than Common Lisp. Scheme was developed at MIT's AI lab and this book is published by MIT press, so I would trust this book.

Best book on Scheme
Clear, to the point, nice exercises, does not put on airs. Other "Scheme books" are really about something else. Eg, SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)) is an introduction to programming, which uses the "scheme machine" as the virtual hardware, and is not really a good introduction to the language (at MIT this was done in tutorials and through self-study). Various "Schemer" books (eg, The Little Schemer - 4th Edition) are more collections of puzzles, which I, personally, find rather annoying, since the authors DO tend to put on airs -- Scheme is just a programming language, don't make it sound like you are giving the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis.

What about "The Scheme programming language" book.
I think the book is not useful as a first book for learning the Scheme language, instead it is very important as a reference. I don't open it very often, but when I need to know something about the language, I do it because I a can find the answer.

Good introduction but sometimes lacks clarity.
I purchased this book specifically with a view to learning the Scheme language. The text is easy to read, is pithy and to the point, and generally makes concepts clear and easy to understand. There are however, in my opinion, some sections where the author forgets that concepts are new to the reader and the examples that are used tend to obfuscate the point being made rather than elucidating it.

I have never considered myself stupid, but after my 5th reading of the introduction to continuations I was beginning to worry. A quick reading of another text on the subject cleared up my concerns almost immediately which suggests to me that the explanations are not as clear as they could be. There are some other areas of the book where this sort of assumption makes grasping a new concept more difficult than it should be.

Nonetheless, I still consider this a good introduction to the Scheme language and would gladly recommend it to the aspirant Schemer.

Great book for learning Scheme
I'm a fan of a lot of the popular Scheme or Scheme related books (SICP, The Little Schemer, The Seasoned Schemer). While in some sense this book takes a more pragmatic approach than the aforementioned books, it is no less valuable. I found this book helpful as a teaching aid while learning Scheme, and as a reference for my continued use of the language.

Advanced topics, such as continuations and the syntax-rules and syntax-case macro systems, get good treatment from this book.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
By now, Scheme is a well-established programming language and is finding increasing popularity in programming courses for undergraduates. Its expressive capabilities are matched by a simplicity of language and ease-of-use which have made its adherents disciples! This textbook provides a comprehensive first course in Scheme and covers all of its major features: abstraction, functional programming, data types, recursion, and semantic programming. Although the primary goal of this text is to teach students to program in Scheme, it will be suitable for any student studying a general programming principles course. Each chapter is divided into three sections: core, appendix , and problems. Most essential topics are covered in the core section, but it is assumed that most students will read the appendices and solve most of the problems. (Nearly all of the problems require students to write short Scheme procedures.) As well as providing a thorough grounding in Scheme, the author discusses in depth different programming paradigms. An important theme throughout is that of "meta-programming": the perspective that programs themselves can be treated as data, and hence can be analyzed and modified as objects. This provides insight into topics such as type-checking and overloading which might otherwise be missed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Scheme programming language
I highly recommend this book to help explain the mathematics and vocabulary used in the Scheme language. I recommend this book especially to those that are perplexed by the text in the book called The Little Schemer.

This book doesn't make the assumption, which The Little Schemer makes, that one understands the words used to program in Scheme.

The chapters are well organised, and shows the author to be organised in his thought processes. I can well imagine him to be a very understanding lecturer on the subject, giving thought to the probability that each student has different levels or aspects of understanding, and that nobody knows everything about any one thing. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is a straightforward, no-nonsense introduction to Scheme, and in its second edition brings the material up to date with respect to the ANSI standard. It covers the properties and features of Scheme; Scheme programming for the novice and advanced Scheme programmer; and Scheme's procedures and syntactic forms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

This is not an introductory text
This is an excellent book for _REFERENCE_!If you are looking for an introduction to computer programming or Scheme, try _The Little Schemer_ by Daniel Friedman and Matthias Felleisen, _Scheme and the Art of Programming_ by George Springer and Daniel Friedman, and finally Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson et.al..somewhere along the way, Dybvig's book becomes an essential text for reference.I use it whenever I work with Scheme because it defines the entire language within its mere 230 pages.Any Scheme programmer should have this in his/her collection.

Not what you expect
I found this book quite useless. I ama beginner with scheme, though I have written LISP and Haskell before.

The parts of scheme I already understood it did not really clarify much, and the parts I did not understand it did not usefully explain. In that sense it did not match the promise of the title: other books in the "The X Programming Language" model do actually introduce you to the language in a usable manner.

For example the sections on macros and continuations are models of terse unclarity. In general the book fails to clearly explain new concepts, and even the early examples are too advanced for a book which is meant to explain the programming language.

This book may be of some use to someone who is a reasonably advanced scheme programmer who wants to get a few new ideas.

However as an introduction to scheme it is in my opinion a total failure. I felt it was more of a vehicle for the author to show off all the nifty coding hacks he could invent than a disciplined attempt to produce a useful book.

There are numerous better introductions to the language on the web, and the R5RS or R4RS documents do a better job of telling you what is in the language.

Excellent, but beware!
To be honest, without this book, I would have certainly failed "Programming Introduction", a course I had to attend last semester. This book teaches you everything you need to know about such a complex language as Scheme, giving you deep and abstract examples of recursion. At the end, you will be able to solve the toughest problems using all the elements recursion has to offer, thus making your programs easy and short. However, you must beware of the following. This book has a high technical language, and sometimes, the examples get too complex for one to understand. If you have some experience in programming, this a must for you! However, if you are beginning to programm, or if you are too used to iteration, you can get into this book but will find some trouble understanding some of the recursive structures. However, learning a level of Scheme complexity like the one this book teaches will help you get used to some commands that many other books don't even mention.

You can do better than this
While I have nothing against this book, I think it's a bit misguided. It's too dry as an introduction to Scheme, too elementary for someone trying to become a wizard, and as a reference it's no better than the "Revised Report on the language Scheme" (R5RS) that you can get online for free.

If you don't know Scheme, buy "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", and after reading it, you can go directly to R5RS. If you want a readable reference book, you're better off buying Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp", even though it's not strictly about Scheme.

A must read
A few words only: this book is wonderful. It is a "must read". I like Lisp. I migrate to Scheme and this book was my companion. If you want to learn Scheme, this book is for you, really. ... Read more

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"With this book you can learn to write good programs that do interesting things right off the bat," writes software developer Julie Sussman. "This is the introductory [programming] text that I wish I had had"Scheme - a simple, learnable dialect of LISP has emerged as a popular educational language as well as a serious tool for producing applications and system software. Programming in Scheme provides an accessible introduction to Scheme that assumes no previous programming experience and covers all the basics of the language and many advanced topics as well. It gets readers on the machine early, teaches language structure and programming technique through extended examples an exercises, and emphasizes debugging throughout.Chapters are organized as a series of groups, or "layers," each of which advances the reader to a new level in Scheme. The first layer (chapters 2-7) introduces Scheme procedures - how to define, use, and debug them. The second layer (chapters 8-10) discusses lists and subprocedures. The third layer (chapters 11-15) provides a more elaborate and powerful model of the Scheme language. These last chapters also explore the notion of first-class procedure objects, one of the most fascinating ideas in computer science. Appendixes contain an Edwin mini-manual, answers to selected exercises, references and bibliography.Michael Eisenberg is a Ph.D candidate in Computer Science at MIT. Harold Abelson is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at MIT. ... Read more

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Scheme provides a flexible and powerful language for programming embodying many of the best features of logical and functional programming. This enjoyable book provides readers with an introduction to programming in Scheme by constructing a series of interesting and re-usable programs. The book includes two diskettes containing MIT Scheme to run on Windows PCs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This Book has plenty of Value!
I really thought the previous review was extremely harsh, and I enjoyed this book, as I valued the variety of programs the author showed ACTUALLY WORKING.. These represented a LOT of work, and actually allowed a novice to scheme (ME) to get started..

So, although I was tempted to give it 5 stars (since the other review was so bad), i still only gave it the 4 it deserves..
if the other reviwer really values so poorly, he should write his own book..
Well, i was very happy to have bought mine..

Pedantic, pompous, and poor
Watson undertakes two tasks in this thin work:to prove to "C, C++, Ada, COBOL, and FORTRAN programmers" that Scheme is useful, too [n.b. Java is missing from this list: dated-material alert], and to educate the reader in artificial intelligence tools and techniques.He failsboth.

After a standard-fair introduction to Scheme (that, unfortunately,does not convince me so much of Scheme's _usefulness_ as its _commonness_: if Scheme can do some of the same things as other languages, why use Schemeand put up with the parentheses?The author does not answer this questionwell in Chapter 2) that ignores Scheme OO features, the reader, in Chapter3, is then treated to a totally inappropriate and offensive sermon on"reuse".

As if the author hasn't enough to do already.As ifthe reader (being a C, C++, Ada, COBOL or FORTRAN programmer) hasn't heardthis sermon too many times from too many stupid systems architects whodon't even know how to make code "usable", much less"reusable".As if the author is able to show reusability at allin his monolithic example at goes on (and on (and on)) for 8 pages.

Thenwe get a "portable graphics library" in Chapter 4 that the authordevelops then throws away after showing a couple of neural networks.The"portable graphics library" is not used at all in the two mainprograms (Chess and Go) that the author develops in the final chapter.Inthis context, does "portable" mean "trivial" or"useless"?

Oh, yes, we were supposed to learn a bit aboutartificial intelligence, weren't we?While the author never establishesthis work as one where we will, indeed, learn something (anything?) aboutartificial intelligence, the scant paragraph or three per chapter gives thereader a very clear message:"If you aren't familiar with [geneticalgorithms|neural networks], look elsewhere because I'm too busy showingyou my code to explain them any more than superficially."

Then thepièce de resistance:his games.What's so bad about them isn't so muchthat they, too, go on (and on (and on)) for too many pages to bothercounting (they are on the floppies provided, are they not?); it's not somuch that the code is written in a procedural-centric style reminiscent ofcode 20 (30? 40?) years old:no, its that the author outputs game playagainst these constructs on a character terminal output!I mean, theyinvented chess notation for a reason, didn't they?"Go-notation"is not to be invented because they have board diagrams that show several(up to 100) plays.Watson believes, I suppose, that we do not believe hisprograms work unless he shows them working move by move, covering morepages.

This book was thin, but reading it was harder than reading_Core_Java_Nth_Edition_ (a work at least 5 times larger), because when theauthor had nothing to write (which was most of the time), he put programlistings or output on the page instead.Even there, he failed:theprogram listings where painful to look at, and the output hilariouslyinappropriate.

I am returning my copy for a refund.Don't buy yours. ... Read more

Product Description

Incorporating a number of the author’s recent ideas and examples, Dynamic Programming: Foundations and Principles, Second Edition presents a comprehensive and rigorous treatment of dynamic programming. The author emphasizes the crucial role that modeling plays in understanding this area. He also shows how Dijkstra’s algorithm is an excellent example of a dynamic programming algorithm, despite the impression given by the computer science literature.

New to the Second Edition

• Expanded discussions of sequential decision models and the role of the state variable in modeling
• A new chapter on forward dynamic programming models
• A new chapter on the Push method that gives a dynamic programming perspective on Dijkstra’s algorithm for the shortest path problem
• A new appendix on the Corridor method

Taking into account recent developments in dynamic programming, this edition continues to provide a systematic, formal outline of Bellman’s approach to dynamic programming. It looks at dynamic programming as a problem-solving methodology, identifying its constituent components and explaining its theoretical basis for tackling problems.

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Provides descriptions of global optimization schemes designed to suppress redundancy codes emitted by language processors in translating or compiling structured primitives. Requiring only one pass, the schemes are written in a general manner, enabling them to be applied to a range of processors. ... Read more

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This text covers the basics of programming and data structures, and gives first-time computer science students the opportunity to not only write programs, but to prove theorems and analyze algorithms as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very good book.
This is a great book. I don't like the way some subjects are presented (the chapter on memory and state for example), but this is just a matter of taste. The book is really good.

For people learning Scheme and functional programming it's worth having.
For anyone interested in Computer Science and programming, it's also great -- lots of concepts from CS are presented in a nice way.
The book follows the (very successful) approach by Abelson and Sussman: first comes pure functional programming, then there's abstraction of state.There are really good exercises, *all with connection to real world problems*.

Scheme - A Good Choice to Teach CS
Scheme has been taught to every student taking computer 'science' at MIT for the past 20 years, and it is increasingly used throughout the world to teach that subject. The mainstream languages C++ and Visual Basic are considered to be poorly designed, and C is too low level to be a good choice in a course intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to computer science (which goes far beyond what the average person calls 'programming').

Scheme is a variant of Lisp, which is the second oldest computer language, after Fortran. It is, however, a thoroughly modern language, and has strongly influenced the design of other modern languages like ML and Python.

The book starts in Scheme, then adds object oriented techniques and assembly language. It finishes with a transition to Java, which is, of course, similar to C++. This approach will provide a much broader background than a typical text using C++ or C could.

Great foundations
Concrete Abstractions provides a great intoduction to the world of Computer Science.It covers well basic ideas of abstractions, software design, algorithms, sorting, and much more.Even after one gets a handleon the ideas presented, the book serves well as a handy reference.Verysound theory with challenging exercises.I recommend it to anyone studyingcomputer science in a college environment.The only downside is that thebook relies on the Scheme programming language; an obscure academiclanguage.This isn't a large setback as the theory covered in the book iseasily applied to all languages. ... Read more

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A basic approach to understanding programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

There are better alternatives
This book is a decent effort.
However, there are more interesting alternatives.

If you are totally new to programming, HTDP ( How to design programs )by Shriram Krishnamurthy , published by MIT press is superb. It is expecially useful if you are using the superb
"Dr Scheme" programming envirnoment.

An online version can be read at ...

If you have programmed before, either Abelson and Susman's
SICP or Dorai Sitaram's online "Teach yourself Scheme in fixnum
days" are both excellent.

The Best Reason Not To Program In Scheme
As an undergraduate, I was subjected to this book by its author.
We were forced to buy it but never used it.
Wow. Let me be blunt and say that this book is quite possibly the poorest CS book I have ever read.
The book is worthless as an introduction because of its meandering structure and poor code comments/explanations.
The writing style is obfuscated and quite patronizing. Additionally, there is no solutions guide for the exercises, which is essential for an introductory book of this nature.

It's also worthless as a language resource because it doesn't touch on intermediate and commonly used concepts with enough detail.

Unlike some other objective CS Programming Languages books, the bias of the author is obvious and painful and he spends most of his time rambling on about how beautiful the language is and how elegant solutions can be contrived in Scheme rather than presenting concrete and illustrative applications.

If you need an introductory Scheme book, buy "The Little Schemer" by Friedman. Don't waste a cent on this book.
Scheme may be a great language but it is not served well
by this book at all.

SCHEME AND THE ART OF PROGRAMMING by SPRINGER & FRIEDMAN
THE IBSN AT THIS SITE REFERS TO "SCHEME AND THE ART OF PROGRAMMING" by GEORGE SPRINGER & DANIEL P. FRIEDMAN (IBSN#007060522x). THIS BOOK HAS A NEW REVISION IN 1995. IT IS COMPLETE AND CONCISE ON SCHEME. BE SURE TO GET THE 1995 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EDITION, AND NOT THE 1989 VERSION.

Well-Rounded Introduction
I think some of the other reviewers are unfair with their reviews of this book.Clearly it does not rise to the level of Abelson and Sussman's SICP, but it is an excellent lower-division level book (even at its "advanced" age).

The jacket notes indicates that it was designed to be a stepping stone between "The Little Schemer" and "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs".I believe it achieves this goal admirably, covering the more critical pieces of Scheme in a detailed, well-explained manner.

It could certainly use an update, and I found the rigorous use of the full lambda notation in procedure declarations to be tedious.But these are small annoyances that do not detract from the book as a whole.And the fact that the core Schemelanguage, which is where this book spends its time, has not changed dramatically in the last decade means that even this older volume provides lots of useful information.

Bottom line is if you are looking for a current definition of the Scheme programming language, you want to pick up Kent Dybvig's "ANSI Scheme".If you are looking for help with SICP, or a good grounding prior to undertaking more advanced programming topics, this is an excellent introduction.

Current best introductory book on Scheme.
No book is perfect...but this book is currently the best available for teaching Scheme to undergraduate CS majors. I have used it several times to teach an introductory course on functional programming (CS 257) at theUniversity of New Mexico. It is more appropriate for a low-level coursethan Abelson and Sussman--most students find it fairly accessible--yet itis comprehensive and doesn't cheat the best students. Unlike some othertextbooks, the point of view is almost purely functional. Mutation andstate are not covered until advanced chapters. I will continue to use ituntil something better comes along. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Scheme is one of the two main dialects of the programming language Lisp. Unlike Common Lisp, the other main dialect, Scheme follows a minimalist design philosophy specifying a small standard core with powerful tools for language extension. Its compactness and elegance have made it popular with educators, language designers, programmers, implementors, and hobbyists, and this diverse appeal is seen as both a strength and, because of the diversity of its constituencies and the wide divergence between implementations, one of its weaknesses. ... Read more

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Chapters: Scheme. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 89. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Scheme is one of the two main dialects of the programming language Lisp. Unlike Common Lisp, the other main dialect, Scheme follows a minimalist design philosophy specifying a small standard core with powerful tools for language extension. Its compactness and elegance have made it popular with educators, language designers, programmers, implementors, and hobbyists, and this diverse appeal is seen as both a strength and, because of the diversity of its constituencies and the wide divergence between implementations, one of its weaknesses. Scheme was developed at the MIT AI Lab by Guy L. Steele and Gerald Jay Sussman who introduced it to the academic world via a series of memos, now referred to as the Lambda Papers, over the period 1975-1980. The Scheme language is standardized in the official IEEE standard, and a de facto standard called the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme (RnRS). The most widely implemented standard is R5RS (1998), and a new standard R6RS was ratified in 2007. Scheme was the first dialect of Lisp to choose lexical scope and the first to require implementations to perform tail-call optimization. It was also one of the first programming languages to support first-class continuations. It had a significant influence on the effort that led to the development of its sister, Common Lisp. Scheme started as an attempt to understand Carl Hewitt's Actor model, for which purpose Steele and Sussman wrote a "tiny Lisp interpreter" using Maclisp and then "added mechanisms for creating actors and sending messages." Scheme was originally called "Schemer", in the tradition of other Lisp-derived languages like Planner or Conniver. The current name resulted from the authors' use of ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=28119 ... Read more

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The Dylan programming language is a multi-paradigm language that includes support for functional and object-oriented programming, and is dynamic and reflective while providing a programming model designed to support efficient machine code generation, including fine-grained control over dynamic and static behaviors. It was created in the early 1990s by a group led by Apple Computer. ?Dylan? like the surname of Bob Dylan. Dylan derives from Scheme and Common Lisp and adds an integrated object system derived from the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS). In Dylan, all values (including numbers, characters, functions, and classes) are first-class objects. Dylan supports multiple inheritance, polymorphism, multiple dispatch, keyword arguments, object introspection, pattern-based syntax extension macros, and many other advanced features. Programs can express fine-grained control over dynamism, admitting programs that occupy a continuum between dynamic and static programming and supporting evolutionary development (allowing for rapid prototyping followed by incremental refinement and optimization). ... Read more

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• What are goals and queries?


• Why is negation hard in logic programming?


• What is cutting?


• How do I solve logic puzzles?


• How is logic programming implemented?

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Chapters: Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Pyramid Scheme, Large Group Awareness Training, Telemarketing, Mailing List, Infomercial, Mary Kay, Multi-Level Marketing, Scentura, World's Best Reading, Database Marketing, Publishers Clearing House, Melaleuca, Inc, Consumer Privacy, Ed Valenti, Stream Energy, Junk Fax, Mail Order, Direct Response Television, Ginsu, Boiler Room, St. Matthew's Churches, Cobra Group, Book of the Month Club, Alticor, Mailstream, Opt-Out, Cornerworld, Christopher L. Irving, Caging, Drayton Bird, Peter Lemongello, the Subject Bible, Arthur Schiff, Rick Cesari, Barkley Inc., Database Publishing, Optoutprescreen.com, Direct Marketing Association, Direct Marketing Associations, Leaflet Distribution, Direct Mail Fundraising, Mini Iq, a Common Reader, Tupperware Brands, Specialty Catalogs, Harriet Carter, World Perfume, Squinch Report, Guthy-Renker, Swiss Colony, Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Wisconsin Cheeseman, International Masters Publishers, Telebrands, Dunhill International List Company, Boardroom, Inc., Cold Calling, Dvd Club, Mailshot, Direct Marketing Association, Mailpack. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 286. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a controversial approach to psychotherapy and organizational change based on "a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behaviour and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them" and "a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behaviour". The co-founders, Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, claimed it would be instrumental in "finding ways t...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=67147 ... Read more

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Le but de ce livre est de fournir des gammes d'exercices autour du concept de récursion. Scheme est le language le plus utilisé par ce livre car c'est, avec ML, l'un des deux langages les plus utilisés en premier cycle universitaire comme support d'initiation à la programmation. Mais que l' on ne s'y trompe pas, le véritable fil conducteur est la récursion.
Ce livre propose des gammes en programmations. Exercice après exercice, sereinement, mais en y mettant du coeur, la pensée récursive s'installe. ... Read more