X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=index.mdwn;h=513dd348b82b1e1f8b7bdc1a69fa96463ff4d566;hb=cf7c4fd17238cd44562ac227655b3e5855e5e4c0;hp=8fc6db50b662ebb26668c9af1dfd02d1c6dfc7bd;hpb=ce192cd543264c238eb514cdfb905a9926dcf0c8;p=lambda.git
diff --git a/index.mdwn b/index.mdwn
index 8fc6db50..513dd348 100644
--- a/index.mdwn
+++ b/index.mdwn
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ the Linguistics building at 10 Washington Place, in room 103 (front of the first
One student session will be held every Wednesday from XX-YY at WHERE.
-->
-## [[Jump to content (lecture notes and more)|content]] ##
+## [[Index of Content (lecture notes and more)|content]] ##
## Announcements ##
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ what you think you need in order to solve the problem.
[[Advanced notes|topics/week1 advanced notes]]
+
+
+
## Course Overview ##
The overarching goal of this seminar is to introduce concepts and techniques from
@@ -126,7 +134,7 @@ course is to enable you to make these tools your own; to have enough
understanding of them to recognize them in use, use them yourself at least
in simple ways, and to be able to read more about them when appropriate.
-[[More about the topics and larger themes of the course| overview]]
+[[More about the topics and larger themes of the course|overview]]
## Who Can Participate? ##
@@ -182,7 +190,10 @@ strictly exclusive. The labels are better thought of as concerning different
of the extent to which they emphasize, and are designed around those idioms. Languages like Python and JavaScript are sometimes themselves
described as "more functional" than other languages, like C.
-In any case, here is some more context for the three languages we will be focusing on.
+In any case, here is
+
+[[How to get the programming languages running on your computer|installing]].
+And here is some more context for the three languages we will be focusing on.
* **Scheme** is one of two or three major dialects of *Lisp*, which is a large family
of programming languages. Scheme
@@ -194,13 +205,21 @@ the operating system differently. One major implementation is called Racket,
and that is what we recommend you use. If you're already using or comfortable with
another Scheme implementation, though, there's no compelling reason to switch.
-
+ Another good Scheme implementation is Chicken. For our purposes, this is in some
+respects superior to Racket, and in other respects inferior.
- Racket stands to Scheme in something like the relation Firefox stands to HTML.
+ Racket and Chicken stand to Scheme in something like the relation Firefox stands to HTML.
- (Wikipedia on [Lisp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_%28programming_language%29),
+ (Wikipedia on
+[Lisp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_%28programming_language%29),
[Scheme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29),
-and [Racket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket_%28programming_language%29).)
+[Racket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket_%28programming_language%29), and
+[Chicken](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHICKEN_%28Scheme_implementation%29).)
+
* **Caml** is one of two major dialects of *ML*, which is another large
family of programming languages. Caml has only one active "implementation",
@@ -208,13 +227,14 @@ OCaml, developed by the INRIA academic group in France. Sometimes we may refer t
more generally; but you can assume that what we're talking about always works more
specifically in OCaml.
- (Wikipedia on [ML](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ML_%28programming_language%29),
-[Caml](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caml),
-and [OCaml](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCaml).)
+ (Wikipedia on
+[ML](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ML_%28programming_language%29),
+[Caml](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caml), and
+[OCaml](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCaml).)
+
-* Those of you with some programming background may have encountered a third
-prominent functional programming language, **Haskell**. This is also used a
+* **Haskell** is also used a
lot in the academic contexts we'll be working through. Its surface syntax
differs from Caml, and there are various important things one can do in
each of Haskell and Caml that one can't (or can't as easily) do in the
@@ -222,11 +242,16 @@ other. But these languages also have *a lot* in common, and if you're
familiar with one of them, it's generally not hard to move between it and the
other.
- (Wikipedia on [Haskell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_%28programming_language%29).)
+ Like Scheme, Haskell has a couple of different implementations. The
+dominant one, and the one we recommend you install, is called GHC, short
+for "Glasgow Haskell Compiler".
+
+ (Wikipedia on
+[Haskell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_%28programming_language%29) and
+[GHC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Haskell_Compiler).)
+
-
-[[How to get the programming languages running on your computer|installing]]
## Recommended Books ##