If you're already using or comfortable with
another Scheme implementation, though, there's no compelling reason to switch.
-<!-- Racket doesn't have R7RS-small, and won't anytime soon. :-( Perhaps prefer Chicken? -->
Another good Scheme implementation is [Chicken](http://www.call-cc.org). For our purposes, this is in some respects
superior to Racket, and in other respects inferior. If you have any issues with installing or using Racket, you could
try this out instead. You might even want to install both.
<!--
-[Gauche](http://practical-scheme.net/gauche),
-or [Chibi](https://code.google.com/p/chibi-scheme). The later in that list you go, the more likely it
-is that you'll have to compile the software yourself. (Thus Mac users will need Xcode; if you try installing the Haskell Platform, described further down this page, first, that should take care of automatically getting the pieces of Xcode you need. Then you can come back and finish installing Scheme.)
+Racket doesn't have R7RS-small, and won't anytime soon.
+Other R7RS-friendly: [Gauche](http://practical-scheme.net/gauche), [Chibi](https://code.google.com/p/chibi-scheme).
-->
Racket and Chicken stand to Scheme in something like the relation Firefox stands to HTML. They are two programs (or platforms) among others for working with the Scheme language; and many of those programs (or web browsers) permit different extensions, have small variations, and so on.
* **To instead install Chicken Scheme on Mac without MacPorts**
- Here are the exact steps I just verified worked. Note that I installed the Haskell Platform, described further down this page, first; that installed some developer tools that were needed to build and install Chicken.
+ Here are the exact steps I just verified worked. Note that I *first installed the Haskell Platform*, described further down this page; that installed some developer tools that were needed to build and install Chicken. If you don't know how to open a Terminal, move between directories, copy / rename / delete files and so on, then you're probably best off not doing this. You could break something.
1. Go to <http://code.call-cc.org>, and click the "Source code" link near the top. Current version is 4.9.0.1, released November 2014. This should fetch a file to your download folder, and will probably automatically unpack that file into a folder, "chicken-4.9.0.1". Click on that folder and press command-C / Copy, then open a Terminal.
2. In the terminal type `cd` followed by a space, then press command-V / Paste. Then press enter. This will move your session into the folder you just downloaded.
4. Type `sudo mkdir -p /usr/local`
5. Type `make PLATFORM=macosx XCODE_DEVELOPER= XCODE_TOOL_PATH=/usr/bin`
- The options starting with `XCODE_` are to tell the Chicken build scripts that I've got the developer tools installed in my main system, rather than as part of Xcode. (That's where the Haskell Platform installer put them.)
+ The options starting with `XCODE_` are to tell the Chicken build scripts that I've got the developer tools installed in my main system, rather than as part of Xcode. (That's where the Haskell Platform installer put them.) Continuing:
6. Wait a while while Chicken builds.
7. If it finishes with no errors, then type `sudo make PLATFORM=macosx XCODE_TOOL_PATH=/usr/bin install`. This will prompt you for your account password, and then install Chicken underneath your `/usr/local` directory.
more generally; but you can assume that what we're talking about always works more
specifically in OCaml.
-It's helpful if in addition to OCaml you also install the Findlib add-on.
-This will make it easier to install additional add-ons further down the road.
-However, if you're not able to get that working, don't worry about it much.
+It's helpful if in addition to OCaml you also install the Findlib add-on and/or the [OPAM](https://opam.ocaml.org) "package manager."
+These will make it easier to install additional add-ons further down the road.
+However, if you're not able to get them working, don't worry about it much.
The current version of OCaml is 4.02.1 (released October 2014).
+<!-- 3.12.1 July 2011; 4.00.1 Oct 2012; 4.01.0 Sept 2013; 4.02.0 Aug 2014; 4.02.1 Oct 2014 -->
-* *Another instruction page focuses on [OPAM](http://ocaml.org/docs/install.html), also [this](https://opam.ocaml.org).*
-
-* *[More details about installing OCaml on Macs, if needed](http://cocan.org/getting_started_with_ocaml_on_mac_os_x)*
* In your web browser:
even if you don't know what MinGW or Cygwin are.
Some features of this require Cygwin, but it looks like
it should mostly work even for users without Cygwin.
- At the time of this writing, only an installer for the previous
- version of OCaml (3.11.0, from January 2010) is available.
+ At the time of this writing, only an installer for an earlier
+ version of OCaml (4.01.0, from September 2013) is available.
To install the Findlib add-on, you must have the
Cygwin system installed. We assume few of you do,
* **To install on Mac without MacPorts**
+ *Instructions coming*
+
+* *Another instruction page focuses on [OPAM](http://ocaml.org/docs/install.html), also [this](https://opam.ocaml.org).*
+
+* *[More details about installing OCaml on Macs, if needed](http://mirror.ocamlcore.org/wiki.cocan.org/getting_started_with_ocaml_on_mac_os_x.html)*
+
+ <!--
To install OCaml 3.12 (just released this summer), go to
<http://caml.inria.fr/download.en.html>
and download and install the "Binary distribution for Mac OS X"
This will build an installer package which you should be able to
double-click and install.
+ -->
* **To install on Mac with MacPorts**
- You can install the previous version of OCaml (3.11.2,
- from January 2010), together with the Findlib add-on, by opening a Terminal
- and typing:
+ You can install the current version of OCaml (4.02.1, from October 2014),
+ together with the Findlib add-on and OPAM package manager, by opening a Terminal and typing:
- sudo port install ocaml caml-findlib
+ sudo port install ocaml caml-findlib opam
As with Scheme, it's helpful to also have rlwrap installed, and to start OCaml as `rlwrap ocaml`. This gives
you a nice history of the commands you've already typed, which you can scroll up and down in with your
Use your packaging system, for example, open a Terminal and
type:
- sudo apt-get install ocaml ocaml-findlib
+ sudo apt-get install ocaml ocaml-findlib opam
- That will install a version of OCaml and the Findlib add-on.
+ That will install a version of OCaml and the Findlib add-on and OPAM package manager.
If for some reason you can't get OCaml through your
packaging system, you can go to
If you can't get findlib through your packaging system, you'll
need to download it from
- <http://download.camlcity.org/download/findlib-1.2.6.tar.gz>.
+ <http://download.camlcity.org/download/findlib-1.5.5.tar.gz>.
and use gcc to compile it yourself. If you don't know how to
do that, you probably don't want to attempt this.
Here are the INSTALL notes:
* In a Terminal, type `sudo apt-get install haskell-platform`.
----
-
-* [Here is more info](https://github.com/pittsburgh-haskell/haskell-installation) about installing Haskell.
-
-
-* It's useful to know about the general [Haskell wiki](https://wiki.haskell.org) (not restricted to just GHC). They have a [Getting Started](https://wiki.haskell.org/Haskell_in_5_steps) page, which also recommends that you install the Haskell Platform.
+If any of the instructions above don't work, then you can try alternative instructions for [Mac](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/osx) or [Windows](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/windows) or [Ubuntu](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/linux). After installing the software, open a Terminal and type `cabal update && cabal install alex happy`. <!-- If typing `which ghci` in a Terminal doesn't give you any reply, you may need to type `echo 'export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc`, then exit and restart your Terminal session. --> Note that this method doesn't install all the extensions that are part of the Haskell Platform, but only the core pieces of GHC. You can use Cabal to download and manage any extra extensions you turn out to need, down the road.
-* <http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads>
+It's useful to know about the general [Haskell wiki](https://wiki.haskell.org) (not restricted to just GHC). They have a [Getting Started](https://wiki.haskell.org/Haskell_in_5_steps) page, which also recommends that you install the Haskell Platform.