Re: Scheme acceptance [no flames]

["John R. Hall" <overcode@lokigames.com>]

Brent Fulgham wrote:
> This sounds like a great idea.  There are three crowning achievements
> that form the foundation for Perl's popularity:
> 1.  Excellent string handling (fast, efficient, easy-to-use)
> 2.  An excellent module exchange system (The CPAN Archive)
> 3.  "The Perl Cookbook".
> 
> So I propose we call the "How To Use Scheme" articles
> "The Schemer's Cookbook".  It falls in line quite nicely with
> the food examples in "The Little Schemer" and "The Seasoned Schemer".

Wouldn't "The MzSchemer's Cookbook" be more appropriate? Otherwise
people will expect it to work with Guile.
(the other option would be to avoid MzScheme-specific constructs, which
would be silly - MzScheme has some really nice stuff)

A random, unrelated thought: MzScheme is not included with most Linux
distributions (I think it's an optional package on one of the SuSE CD's,
but that's about it). There is no reason for this - there are perfectly
good RPM's, MzScheme is quite stable, and it is one of the best free
Scheme implementations out there. Perhaps PLT could email the
packagers-that-be at several of the major Linux distros?
I'd be happy to contribute Slackware packages for MzScheme. Someone else
could probably cook up some Debian packages (for Storm Linux and
Debian).
If we want MzScheme to gain mindshare over Guile, it needs to get more
widely distributed, and not just at universities.

-John