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From: jinx@zurich.ai.mit.edu (Guillermo J. Rozas)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Subject: Re: What is a Scheme?
Message-ID: <JINX.90Aug22122411@chamarti.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 22 Aug 90 16:24:11 GMT
References: <TED.90Aug20125352@kythera.nmsu.edu> <9008211445.AA02571@mozart.think.com>
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In-reply-to: gls@THINK.COM's message of 21 Aug 90 14:45:45 GMT


    I regard all other data types, including numbers and strings,
    as entirely inessential to Scheme-ness.  The same goes for
    control structures (I'll just synthesize DELAY and FORCE
    myself from closures and side effects).

    So there is one opinion.  Let's hear some others.

I agree.  Especially since the language is such that even numbers and
strings (and pairs, etc.) can be built out of the very powerful glue
of procedures.

The great thing about Scheme is that the glue is so good that you
hardly need anything else.  Everything else is convenience.

To me the core of Scheme is [lambda,set!,quote].