Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
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From: "Eric Jeschke" <jeschke@cs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Demise of Scheme (was Re: pair? AND list?)
Message-ID: <199512041628.LAA23748@piano.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University
References: <48p0td$pqf@netnews.nctu.edu.tw> <xy7zqdrcf2j.fsf@sans06.nada.kth.se> 	<48qs6e$s2j@boogie.cs.utexas.edu> <48sevn$1p64@serra.unipi.it> 	<48t1to$u5@jive.cs.utexas.edu> 	<staerk-2911951443120001@math-mac-staerk.stanford.edu> 	<SHRIRAM.95Nov29215807@europa.cs.rice.edu> <BLUME.95Nov30102933@zayin.cs.princeton.edu>
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 11:28:17 -0500 (EST)
Lines: 33

blume@zayin.cs.princeton.edu (Matthias Blume) writes:

:Moreover, I dare to say that Scheme can safely be pronounce dead if we
:don't manage to get over with silly discussions like the current
:thread.  It seems like Schemers are constantly worried about things
:like (eq? '() '#f), (list? '(a . b)), (eq? (lambda (x) x) (lamda (y)
:y)), while in the meantime failing to see the big picture.  Everybody
:else is moving on to other languages (or is in the process of doing
:so).

:It's a shame.


This kind of nit-picking is a symptom of language by committee.
The "hot" languages are typically released by a single individual or
small group, and don't get bogged down as quickly.  The myriad of
implementations also gives Scheme the same portability problems as
Unix; which version do you develop for?

It seems like Scheme is headed towards Pascal's fate as a teaching
language only, without even having gained the "market share" there 
that Pascal once did.  Nevertheless, I hold out hope for Scheme,
primarily because it is so clean and small it has a better chance of
hanging on and evolving.  It almost certainly will as a PL research
vehicle.

The best bet is for a stable multi-platform release with good OS
and networking interfaces.   How about a "Scheme Consortium" release
(modeled after the X consortium)?

-- 
Eric Jeschke
jeschke@cs.indiana.edu
