We'll assume you're using either Mac OS X, or Windows, or Linux.
If you're using **Mac OS X**, take note of what version of the Mac OS you're
-running: "Tiger" 10.4, or "Leopard" 10.5, or "Snow Leopard" 10.6. Furthermore,
-you'll be in one of two subgroups:
+running. (Under the Apple Menu, select "About this Mac".)
+
+* Leopard (10.5)
+* Snow Leopard (10.6)
+* Lion (10.7)
+* Mountain Lion (10.8)
+* Mavericks (10.9)
+* Yosemite (10.10)
+
+If you're running **iOS**, you probably can't use this software on that machine. (A bit more below.)
+
+Furthermore, you'll be in one of two subgroups:
* You'll have Apple's Xcode and the independent MacPorts system
- installed.
+ installed. (Probably you don't. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't have these.)
+
+ If you don't have these, but want to try this route, you can read about
+ the MacPorts system at <http://www.macports.org/>.
+ This automates the building of Unix-type software on your Mac; it
+ makes it a lot easier to check for dependencies, use more-recent
+ versions of things, and so on. (Though as it happens, MacPorts only has an older version of
+ our chosen implementation of Scheme.)
Xcode is available at
- <http://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/xcode.html>.
- You have to register as an Apple Developer to download it. This
- is free but requires you to accept a legal agreement with Apple.
+ <http://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/xcode.html>. Some
+ versions of this have been available for free, though you do have to
+ register with Apple as an "Apple Developer", which involves accepting a
+ legal agreement with Apple. I have an older version of this installed.
+ If you download a recent version, email me and let me know how the
+ process works so I can tell others. There are instructions about how to
+ get Xcode in the MacPorts installation guide.
+ <!--
The latest version of Xcode to work with Leopard is 3.14; more
- recent versions require Snow Leopard.
+ recent versions (>= 3.2) require Snow Leopard. 3.2.6 is last version that can be downloaded for free by users of 10.6 / Snow Leopard. (But if they pay, they can use up to Xcode 4.2.)
+ Xcode 4.1 was free to all users of 10.7 / Lion. Is Xcode 4.6.x still available for free? Are Xcode 5.x and/or 6.x available for free?
+ -->
- The MacPorts system is available at
- <http://www.macports.org/>.
- This automates the building of Unix-type software on your Mac; it
- makes it a lot easier to check for dependencies, use more-recent
- versions of things, and so on.
-* Or you won't have those installed. (Most Mac users will be in this group.)
+* Or you won't have those installed. (**Most Mac users will be in this group.**)
Then you'll need pre-packaged (and usually pretty GUI) installers for
everything. These are great when they're available and kept up-to-date;
- however those conditions aren't always met.
-
+ however sometimes those conditions aren't met.
+
If you're using **Windows**, you'll be in one of two subgroups:
and we'll assume that those of you using different packaging systems will know
how to make the relevant substitutions. You may also want to take note of the
output of the "uname -srm" command. On my machine this tells me "Linux
- 2.6.35-ARCH x86_64". That tells me I'm running the x86_64 (as opposed to the
+ 3.12.8-extrastuff x86\_64". That tells me I'm running the x86\_64 (as opposed to the
i686 or i386 or whatever) version of Linux, and that I'm running kernel
- version 2.6.35.
+ version 3.12.8.
+
+**For all of these groups**, a general item to take note of is what "processor architecture" your machine is running. Three of the possibilities are:
+
+* One of Intel's i386, i486, i586, i686 architectures. These are collectively known as "x86" or "IA-32" or sometimes just "32-bit".
+* Intel or AMD's x86\_64 architecture. This is sometimes also called "x64" or "amd64" or "IA-64" or sometimes just "64-bit".
+* ARM or some other architecture. These are generally lower-powered machines, like iPads. Some of the software we're proposing *might* in principle be capable of running on such machines, but installers don't seem to be available. We'll assume you have access to an x86 or x86\_64 machine.
+In the Linux example above, I could tell my machine is running x86 because the
+result of the `uname` command said "i386" at the end. Another machine I have
+says "x86\_64" at the end. On a Mac, you can also say `uname -m` in a Terminal
+session, and it will say something like "i386". I think that Mac OS's from Lion
+/ 10.7 forward have all been x86\_64-only. On Windows, I don't know how to
+collect this information. But generally, machines running Windows XP will
+probably be i386/32-bit (unless it's a version of Windows with "64-bit" or
+"x64" in its title); machines running Windows Vista or Windows 7 or Windows 8
+could be running either x86/32-bit or x64/64-bit.
+(Update: I found
+[this Microsoft page](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/32-bit-and-64-bit-windows)
+that may help.)
## PLEASE REPORT PROBLEMS (AND SOLUTIONS!) ##
## Getting Scheme ##
**Scheme** is one of two major dialects of *Lisp*, which is a large family of
-programming languages. The other dialect is called "CommonLisp." Scheme is the
+programming languages. The other dialect is called "Common Lisp." Scheme is the
more clean and minimalistic dialect, and is what's mostly used in academic
circles.
Scheme itself has umpteen different "implementations", which share most of
their fundamentals, but have slightly different extensions and interact with
the operating system differently. One major implementation used to be called
-PLT Scheme, and has just in the past few weeks changed their name to Racket.
+PLT Scheme, but then a few years ago changed their name to Racket.
This 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.)
-Since the name change is so recent, you're likely to run across both sets of names.
+Racket stands to Scheme in something like the relation Firefox stands to HTML. It's one program among others for working with the language; and many of those programs (or web browsers) permit different extensions, have small variations, and so on.
+
+Racket has several components. The two most visible components for us are a command-line interpreter named "racket" and a teaching-friendly editor/front-end named "DrRacket". You will probably be working primarily or wholly in the latter.
+
+<!-- racket used to be mzscheme, DrRacket used to be DrScheme -->
+
+* In your web browser:
-PLT Scheme had three salient components: the command-line version "mzscheme", a
-GUI extension "MrEd", and a teaching-friendly editor/front-end "DrScheme". In
-Racket these have been renamed "racket", "gracket", and "DrRacket",
-respectively.
+ There is a (slow, bare-bones) version of Scheme available for online use at <http://tryscheme.sourceforge.net/>.
* **To install in Windows**
- Go to <http://racket-lang.org/download/>. Download and install the "Windows x86" version.
+ Go to <http://racket-lang.org/download/>. Download and install the "Windows x64" version. (Or the "Windows x86" verson if you have an older, 32-bit system.)
* **To install on Mac without MacPorts**
Go to <http://racket-lang.org/download/>. Download and install the option for your system, most likely "Macintosh
- OS X (Intel)"
+ OS X (Intel 64-bit)".
* **To install on Mac with MacPorts**
If you want the GUI components, I think you'll need to use the
"Mac/without MacPorts" installation options above.
+ I recommend also typing:
+
+ sudo port install rlwrap
+
+ then if you ever use the command-line program `mzscheme` (or `racket`), you should start it by typing `rlwrap mzscheme`. This gives
+ you a nice history of the commands you've already typed, which you can scroll up and down in with your
+ keyboard arrows.
+
* **To install on Linux**
Use your packaging system, for example, open a Terminal and
type:
- sudo apt-get install plt-scheme
+ sudo apt-get install racket
It's very likely that your packaging system has some version of
- PLT Scheme available, so look for it. However, if you can't find it you
+ Racket available, so look for it. However, if you can't find it you
can also install a pre-packaged binary from the Racket website at <http://racket-lang.org/download/>.
- Choose the option for your version of Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, and two
- varieties of Fedora are available)
+ Choose the option for your version of Linux (Ubuntu and Debian are available).
+
+ As above, I recommend you also type:
+
+ sudo apt-get rlwrap
+
+ then if you ever use the command-line program `mzscheme` (or `racket`), you should start it by typing `rlwrap mzscheme`. This gives
+ you a nice history of the commands you've already typed, which you can scroll up and down in with your
+ keyboard arrows.
## Getting OCaml ##
**Caml** is one of two major dialects of *ML*, which is another large family of
programming languages. The other dialect is called "SML" and has several
-implementations. But Caml has only one active implementation, OCaml, developed
-by the INRIA academic group in France.
+implementations. But Caml has only one active implementation, OCaml or
+Objective Caml, developed by the INRIA academic group in France.
+
+
+*Will add more information about this soon.*
+
+<!--
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.
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,
sudo port install ocaml caml-findlib
+ 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
+ keyboard arrows.
+
+
+* [More details about installing OCaml on Macs, if needed](http://cocan.org/getting_started_with_ocaml_on_mac_os_x)
+
* **To install on Linux**
Use your packaging system, for example, open a Terminal and
Here are the INSTALL notes:
<https://godirepo.camlcity.org/svn/lib-findlib/trunk/INSTALL>.
+ 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
+ keyboard arrows.
+
+-->