Scheme

In scheme, how do i know what i am missing a ( or when i have to add ( ), I am reading a few tutorials but i cant find were it mentions something about this. IE

or etc. I was getting an error at this snippet before because i was missing '( )' around + age.

I haven't messed with Scheme, but I've messed with Lisp, and the only thing I found was to carefully write it in a text editor in a very expanded notation (using most of the parentheses like braces in a C-style language, and writing the closing as soon as I write the opening). Then I collapse it to a more conventional style.

Other than that, the only thing I'm aware of that would help (unless there is a very good IDE somewhere that does brace matching, perhaps Emacs), is a very methodical use of the eyeballs and fingers.

(First of all, I don't know scheme, but do know c.l. and the issues are the same.)

It's a simple rule - you need an opening paren whenever you apply a function. (+ age 1) applies the + function to age and 1. This makes most issues about operator precedence etc disappear.

your best defence is a good editor, such as emacs and scheme-mode which will not only highlight the opening/closing paren but insert a closing one for you when you type '(', so you never need to count them.

jamieB: The editor would actually be a good idea, but... then again its not.. because i dont want to someday get stuck out with out that editor.. and still have the waited headaches, The point is that i dont want to get used to it.. but it is a good think to use at start.

LyonHaert: I guess the eyeball and fingering would have to me used then but.... jamie sorta answered some of my doubts... for every function it needs an opening and closing '('. So ya.. the eyeball will have to be one of my selections

The editor is a very good idea. I find emacs a tad annoying though, so I'd go for scribes which is infinitely nicer. You're on slack though, so it'll be a pain in the arse to install.

Scribes has a feature that AFAIK no other editor has, templates. No other editor does them with quite the power that scribes does It's no longer simple insert-on-click

Are you doubting my linux slackware skill's sissy!! we will see.. i will install it and post a snapshot.

not wanting to start a war, but...if you take the time to learn emacs you will not regret it. It's streets ahead of any other editor I've come across, so much that it's silly to compare them most of the time. I learned it because of slime, the 2nd-to-none lisp environment/IDE, but I believe that scheme-mode also has auto-indentation, highlighting, code completion, execute current buffer etc etc. It is endlessly extensible (using elisp, which xlordt will appreciate if he's learning scheme), the key-bindings become second nature and are very productive to use. Every time you pick up a new language you can just find the emacs mode for it - there will be one and it may well be excellent. It's a software classic - not many pieces of software make it to version 21. The editor for discerning hackers!:-)

I know a little about emacs.. im just a highlight color lover junkie

jamieB: But if you end up working on different computers, you may not be able to take it with you (especially if you personally customize it). In such cases, it's more work to try and do that, it's a pain to switch back and forth, so in the end it's easier to stick with something that's going to be consistent across the workstations one uses.

JamieB>>not wanting to start a war, but...if you take the time to learn emacs you will not regret it.

I took time to learn the basics and I don't find it any better than anything else. Oh, and it's irritating customising font etc.

>>It's streets ahead of any other editor I've come across, so much that it's silly to compare them most of the time.

Emacs doesn't have scribes templates

>>I learned it because of slime, the 2nd-to-none lisp environment/IDE, but I believe that scheme-mode also has auto-indentation, highlighting, code completion, execute current buffer etc etc.

Never got on with slime, seems like it tries to do too much and is an infinite pain to get going.

>>It is endlessly extensible (using elisp, which xlordt will appreciate if he's learning scheme).

Elisp is kack! Seriously, it's the worst lisp you could ever come up with. It tries to do too much automatic type conversion and there's no direct way to coerce it. Not impressive.

>>the key-bindings become second nature and are very productive to use. Every time you pick up a new language you can just find the emacs mode for it - there will be one and it may well be excellent.

Eventually I guess, if you can live with it's other faults. I still want templates.

>>It's a software classic - not many pieces of software make it to version 21. The editor for discerning hackers!:-)

Or rather other pieces of software fit more updates into their minor numbers...