Scheme is a general-purpose, functional, programming language descended from Lisp and Algol. It is a statically scoped and properly tail-recursive dialect of Lisp.
Scheme is a very simple language with a very simple syntax based on s-expressions. Its simplicity is fundamental in making it a popular introductory language. It follows a minimalist design philosophy specifying a small standard core with powerful tools for language extension. This philosophy helps make Scheme a programming language that can be learned over a weekend. Nevertheless, Scheme is a very versatile language being used to write a diverse range of applications such as financial analysis tools, compilers, virtual reality systems, as well as more mundane software.
Scheme is used in computing education and research as well as a wide range of industrial applications.
Here’s our recommended tutorials to learn Scheme. If you’re looking for free Scheme programming books, check here.
1. A Pamphlet Against R. Computational Intelligence in Guile Scheme by Panicz
The pamphlet explores and expresses various computational intelligence methods using Guile, a very pleasant implementation of the Scheme programming language.
2. Scheme Tutorial by Catharina Candolin
This tutorial has been written as course material for the course Basic Course in Programming T1 held at Helsinki University of Technology. The aim has been to provide the students with additional material that would help them learn Scheme as a language.
3. Write Yourself a Scheme in 48 Hours by Wikibooks
You’ll start off using and parsing the command-line, then progress to writing a fully-functional Scheme interpreter that implements a decent subset of R5RS Scheme.
4. Yet Another Scheme Tutorial by Takafumi Shido
This is a gentle and step by step Scheme tutorial for beginners. The expected readers are PC users with little programming experience.
All tutorials in this series:
| Free Programming Tutorials | |
|---|---|
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| Python | General-purpose, structured, powerful language |
| C++ | General-purpose, portable, free-form, multi-paradigm language |
| C# | Combines the power and flexibility of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic |
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| PHP | PHP has been at the helm of the web for many years |
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| Go | Compiled, statically typed programming language |
| Pascal | Imperative and procedural language designed in the late 1960s |
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| COBOL | Common Business-Oriented Language |
| Scala | Modern, object-functional, multi-paradigm, Java-based language |
| Fortran | The first high-level language, using the first compiler |
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| Haskell | Standardized, general-purpose, polymorphically, statically typed language |
| Scheme | General-purpose, functional, language descended from Lisp and Algol |
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| ABAP | Advanced Business Application Programming |
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| D | General-purpose systems programming language with a C-like syntax |
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| Icon | High-level, general-purpose language |
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| QML | Hierarchical declarative language for user interface layout with a syntax to JSON |
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| OpenCL | Open Computing Language |
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| V | Statically typed compiled language to build maintainable software |
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| Coq | Dependently typed language similar to Agda, Idris, F*, Lean, and others |