The Howdy Glossary

Scheme is a programming language in the Lisp family, known for its simplicity, cleanliness, and minimalist syntax. Created by Gerald Jay Sussman and Guy L. Steele Jr. in the 1970s at MIT AI Lab, Scheme emphasizes functional programming principles and interactive development via meta-circular evaluation. This allows programmers to dynamically change program behavior on-the-fly, making it an ideal tool for teaching language design principles and experimenting with new programming concepts.

Scheme features a minimalist syntax designed for simplicity and readability. It supports first-class functions and lexical scoping, promoting functional programming practices. Meta-circular evaluation enables dynamic modification of programs at runtime for a highly interactive development environment. An expressive macro system facilitates powerful metaprogramming capabilities, allowing users to extend Scheme's functionality easily. These characteristics collectively contribute to Scheme’s reputation as a versatile tool in the Lisp family.

Scheme competes with other Lisp dialects like Common Lisp and Clojure but distinguishes itself through its unique features aimed at education and research rather than large-scale commercial application or concurrent programming focus seen in Clojure. Its competitive advantages include ease of understanding code due to minimalist syntax, support for functional programming that enhances productivity, meta-circular evaluation fostering experimentation, and an advanced macro system facilitating domain-specific language creation. These aspects make Scheme particularly appealing for students, educators, researchers, and anyone interested in exploring innovative ideas within programming languages.