Scheme and SICP — on a Mac

Given that I am teaching myself to code so that I can better use R, I guess it was inevitable that I started reading Abelson & Sussman’s Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (I’ve been using a modern, freshly re-typset version of SICP).

Doing the exercises is a key part of SICP — so I needed a version of Scheme to play with. I decided to go with Petite Chez Scheme, which is a free version of Cadence Research Systems’ fast (industrial strength) Chez Scheme.

Installing it was a snap. First, I downloaded pcsv8.4-ta6osx-1.pkg.tar.gz from the chez scheme downloads page (highlighted in the screen-shot, above).

Next, I opened the downloads folder in finder, and double-clicked the file (file #1 in the below screenshot) — which caused the disk-image file (file #2) to unpack in the directory.

Double-clicking this file caused the installer to open.

At which point installing petite chez scheme was just a question of clicking through the options (I accepted the defaults). It takes ~3mb of space, so it only takes a few moments to complete the install.

To test to see how if the install was successful, open a new terminal session and type in:

$ petite

You ought to see something like the below — though you’ll have to add your own Scheme boiler-plate!