blog.philcrissman.com

I’ve done a little Scheme on my own, and in a class at the University of Minnesota that I took last year. I don’t use it regularly, and I don’t anticipate ever using it in my career (although the opportunity to do so would be interesting). That said, I think it was invaluable, and I wish more schools included it, especially as an introductory course.

If it isn’t (generally) applicable to the workplace, then, why?

Two main reasons:

• recursion
• lists

I think one of the most valuable things you learn by programming Scheme is how much you can accomplish with very little in the way of structures and methods. With only lists and recursive functions, you can do almost anything you’d want to do.

You also get a chance to deal with different ways to do recursion, to manipulate lists, to make lists act like arrays &/or trees. All good things to know.

Of course, you also get the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about lambda. I think the light that goes on with that is also worthwhile, though mostly just if you’re inclined to enjoy programming for its own sake. If you’re learning it simply for a vocation, this may or may not be as interesting; your mileage may vary.