MIT Scheme
MIT Scheme is a dialect of the Lisp programming language developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for its minimalist, yet practical design and focus on computer science education.
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dialect
mit
computer-science
education
MIT Scheme: A Minimalist Lisp for Computer Science Education
A dialect of the Lisp programming language developed at MIT, known for its practical design and focus on computer science education.
What is MIT Scheme?
MIT Scheme is a dialect of the Lisp programming language that was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. It is designed to be a simple yet practical implementation of Scheme that focuses on computer science education.
Some key features and characteristics of MIT Scheme include:
- Minimalist design and small core language for simplicity and elegance
- Close alignment to IEEE Scheme standards
- Emphasis on proper tail recursion and first-class continuations
- Distinguished history of use in MIT's intro CS courses and the SICP textbook
- Ships as part of GNU Guix and focused on POSIX platforms like Linux and BSD
- Open source with an active development community
- Includes an interpreter, debugger, editor, profiler and more in one bundled package
Overall, MIT Scheme offers a lightweight, standards-compliant Scheme implementation designed for students, educators, and computer scientists who desire a practical Lisp environment focused on education with a rich history and active ecosystem.
MIT Scheme Features
Features
- Dialect of Lisp programming language
- Minimalist and practical design
- Strong focus on computer science education
- Supports first-class continuations
- Has an algebraic stepper for debugging
- Includes an integrated Emacs-like editor
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Great for learning Lisp and functional programming
Lightweight and easy to install
Good documentation and tutorials available
Active user community
Free and open source
Cons
Not as full-featured as some other Lisps
Less popular than Common Lisp or Clojure
Limited library ecosystem compared to other options
Official Links
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