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Scheme is a programming language that evolved from Lisp, known for its minimalism, elegance, and expressive power. Created by Gerald Jay Sussman and Guy L. Steele Jr. in the 1970s at MIT, Scheme was intended to streamline Lisp while introducing new ideas in programming language design. This resulted in a significant addition to the Lisp family that has influenced other languages and maintained prominence in academic settings due to its clear syntax and focus on abstraction.

Distinct features of Scheme include lexical scoping, first-class functions, hygienic macros, and continuation manipulation. Lexical scoping binds variables within specific scopes for predictable behavior; first-class functions allow functions to be assigned to variables or passed as arguments; hygienic macros minimize variable capture issues; and continuation manipulation enables advanced control flow operations. These characteristics contribute significantly to Scheme’s reputation for simplicity and expressive power compared to other languages like Common Lisp which is more feature-rich or Clojure which runs on the JVM.

Scheme competes with various languages including Common Lisp, Clojure, Haskell, Python, and JavaScript but maintains unique advantages due to its minimalist philosophy. It serves well in educational settings where clarity is paramount—offering powerful tools for symbolic processing—and continues to attract developers who value elegant solutions facilitated by its design principles. Its long history within the Lisp family further reinforces its academic significance and ongoing relevance as a clean yet powerful tool suitable for diverse programming purposes.

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