Scheme (programming language)
dialect of the Lisp programming language
Scheme is a dialect of the Lisp family of programming languages. Scheme was created during the 1970s at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) and released by its developers, Guy L. Steele and Gerald Jay Sussman, via a series of memos now known as the Lambda Papers. It was the first dialect of Lisp to choose lexical scope and the first to require implementations to perform tail-call optimization, giving stronger support for functional programming and associated techniques such as recursive algorithms. It was also one of the first programming languages to support first-class continuations. It had a significant influence on the effort that led to the development of Common Lisp.
The Scheme language is standardized in the official Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard and a de facto standard named the Revisedn Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme (RnRS). A widely implemented standard is R5RS (1998). The most recently ratified standard of Scheme is "R7RS-small" (2013). The more expansive and modular R6RS was ratified in 2007. Both trace their descent from R5RS; the timeline below reflects the chronological order of ratification.
The public source identifies “Scheme (programming language)” as dialect of the Lisp programming language. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Scheme, programming and language.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Scheme (programming language)”, the useful work is to connect “dialect of the Lisp programming language” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q187560. The Library of Congress control number is sh87003834. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 2013 and 2007.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Scheme (programming language)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Scheme (programming language) primary sources, Scheme (programming language) archive and Scheme research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Scheme (programming language)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Scheme (programming language)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.