Re: Getting started with Scheme

[Kevin Barry]

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry you haven't had the best experience with the scheme sandbox.
Since development of LilyPond mostly takes place on Linux it's possible
that Windows-related documentation can be neglected...

On Sat, May 23, 2020 at 10:51:58AM +0100, Paul McKay wrote:
> I have Frescobaldi 3.1.2 as well (in case that’s relevant).

Well... yes you can use Frescobaldi/LilyPond as a sort of Guile IDE if
you want.  If you put a \version statement at the top of the file and
start each scheme expression with a '#' then it should work.

> When the documentation refers to ‘opening a terminal window’ I assume this
> means a command prompt of some kind. (If so, it would be good to use this
> terminology. Not many of us remember the VT52 emulators.)

On Linux and MacOS systems the relevant apps are all still named some
variation of terminal (terminal, gnome-terminal, terminal.app, iterm,
terminator - you get the picture). I'll see about adding a clarification
for Windows users to refer them to cmd.

> My copy of windows doesn’t have a *Start* menu: so that’s another
> instruction that is meaningless.

OK. Is there a common way to accomplish the old Start -> Run -> type in
the name of a program?

> At which point I’m presented with an unresponsive terminal. I exit via
> Ctrl-C.

If there is another Windows user on the list who has this working
hopefully they can chime in and we can update the documentation as
necessary.

> I would be grateful for any help to get this going: or a redirection
> to a better environment. Is there a Scheme IDE? I’ve never seen
> anything like a comment in Scheme code. I wonder is it a write-only
> language, the way APL was.

I don't know about Scheme IDEs. An internet search suggests DrScheme
might be suitable, but I think most people on this list use their
LilyPond environment for working with scheme.

What happens if you try running the guile program on its own (not via
lilypond scheme-sandbox)?

Kevin