[Tutor] RE: [Tutor][a plug for Scheme]

[Danny Yoo]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Scott Widney wrote:

> <snipped comparison of functions and GOTO>
> 
> > There are other language implementations that handle 
> > recursion in a way that removes this limitation.  
> > Stackless Python: is a variant of Python that allows
> > unlimited recursion by avoiding the use of a stack.
> 
> > The Scheme programming language: also handles unlimited
> > recursion.  It's not Python, granted, but it's a very
> > cool language to look at when you have the chance. 
> > Learning recursion is easier in Scheme because,
> > well, Scheme provides very little room to do looping
> > without recursion.  *grin*
> 
> You're coming dangerously close to mentioning the bane of my mental
> existence at the moment -- continuations (generators and iterators and
> frames, oh my!). Anyone care to take a crack at explaining them in babytalk?
> I'm looking for an analogy other than likening them to GOTO on steroids.

I don't know if this is babytalk, but here are two things I've found:

http://www.python.org/workshops/2000-01/proceedings/papers/tismers/spcpaper.htm
http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~duchier/python/continuations.html

As soon as I understand it myself, I'll let you know.  *grin*