When comparing The Scheme Programming Language vs Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days, the Slant community recommends Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days for most people. In the question“What are the best resources to learn Scheme?” Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days is ranked 1st while The Scheme Programming Language is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days is:
Rather than using Scheme as a way to teach various areas of computer science, "Teach yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days" purely teaches the Scheme language.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Instructive explanations of concepts
"The Scheme Programming Language" does an excellent job of explaining concepts in a clear and readable way.
Pro Great for use as a reference book
The layout of "The Scheme Programming Language" sets it up as an ideal reference book, making it easy to find specific concepts which are then explained at length.
Pro Straight-forward introduction to Scheme
Rather than using Scheme as a way to teach various areas of computer science, "Teach yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days" purely teaches the Scheme language.
Pro Free
"Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days" is an entirely free resource.
Cons
Con Difficult to follow as an introduction to Scheme
"The Scheme Programming Language" is better suited for use as a reference. As an introduction to the language, the dry writing style and lack of exercises make it less-than-ideal for information retention.
Con Outdated
"Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days" is noted as being outdated in some areas (for example, its introduction to macros using an unhygienic macro system).