Scheme

since 1975 (earliest usage recorded on this site was 1987)

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 the first dialect of Lisp to choose lexical scope and the first to require compilers 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.

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Technology Timeline Graph

1987

1988

1989

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1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

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2002

2003

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2024

dfan

lawley

kan

boutell

eMBee

morgs

jjames

ndw

davidpaccoud

jtauber

otherchirps

dabeaz

frankwiles

edd

zephyrfalcon

brunomlopes

brettsky

fogus

audreyr

mfandreas

Josh

bitprophet

CerealBoy

jkocherhans

PaulM

Zak

ghoseb

cstejerean

abeppu

bkad

adityo

ericflo

dekz

quakehead

angelausy

skytreader

brutasse

carljm

twhitton

Kanru

ssbr

alexsuraci

amackera

greyfade

Sitwon

gnubardt

tartley

perimosocordiae

bibhas

mgrbyte

gridaphobe

Sitwonade

dfan - 3 years

lawley - 38 years

kan - 37 years

boutell - 1 years

eMBee - 2 years

morgs - 1 years

jjames - 30 years

ndw - 6 years

davidpaccoud - 2 years

jtauber - 1 years

otherchirps - 1 years

dabeaz - 6 years

frankwiles - 1 years

edd - 28 years

zephyrfalcon - 27 years

brunomlopes - 2 years

brettsky - 1 years

fogus - 5 years

audreyr - 3 years

mfandreas - 2 years

Josh - 2 years

bitprophet - 1 years

CerealBoy - 22 years

jkocherhans - 2 years

PaulM - 3 years

Zak - 20 years

ghoseb - 2 years

cstejerean - 3 years

abeppu - 19 years

bkad - 2 years

adityo - 2 years

ericflo - 18 years

dekz - 1 years

quakehead - 18 years

angelausy - 1 years

skytreader - 4 years

brutasse - 1 years

carljm - 17 years

twhitton - 17 years

Kanru - 16 years

ssbr - 1 years

alexsuraci - 16 years

amackera - 16 years

greyfade - 16 years

Sitwon - 16 years

gnubardt - 16 years

tartley - 15 years

perimosocordiae - 15 years

bibhas - 15 years

mgrbyte - 2 years

gridaphobe - 14 years

Sitwonade - 13 years

dfan

1987–1989

6.001 at MIT. I still remember adding some extra pairs of parentheses to neaten things up and being totally befuddled by the error messages I got.

lawley

1987–

kan

1988–

boutell

1988

Ah, "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," that great hazing ritual of yore! Hey, it enabled me to appreciate pinkhairedcyn's tattoo. And terrorize my coworkers with nested parentheses.

eMBee

1992–1993

learned in university

morgs

1992

University CS. Lots of bracket counting and recursion.

jjames

1995–

The language that taught me that I wanted to learn how to program something larger than a calculator. The smallness of the language is inspiring as a contrast to most modern language designs. Also, Guy Steele has the most boss name in history.

jtauber

1996

I learnt this because of DSSSL, the precursor to XSLT, which was based on Scheme. I was an intern at Sun Labs and actually learnt from Guy Steele's own copy of The Little Schemer.

davidpaccoud

1996–1997

The language I learned functionnal programming with at the University.

dabeaz

1996–2001

Developed a Swig module for Guile--a scheme variant. In 2001, taught Scheme at the university using SICP.

ndw

1996–2001

As the expression language in DSSSL at least

otherchirps

1996

edd

1997–

First learned it (using 'guile') because it had a good IRC library and I was writing bots. Revisit every other winter holiday, nursing my copy of the Little Schemer.

frankwiles

1997

zephyrfalcon

1998–

brunomlopes

2000–2001

Learned in college, and still love it. Sadly don't use it anymore.

fogus

2001–2005

Grad school

brettsky

2001

Learned for my intro CS course in my undergrad.

mfandreas

2001–2002

computer science classes

audreyr

2001–2003

bitprophet

2002

University programming language paradigms class. Was a lot of fun and I intend to work through my copy of The Little Schemer sometime, but otherwise I see little reason to use LISPs over more practical languages like Python.

Josh

2002–2003

CerealBoy

2003–

Began reading / writing for uni, quite enjoyed.

jkocherhans

2003–2004

PaulM

2004–2006

CS61A with SICP at Berkeley - fantastic class.

Zak

2005–