> You are much better off in terms of entertainment (through learning interesting stuff) with e.g. PLT Scheme or perhaps Arc.
. . . but if you want to actually use a LISP for practical programming, and you start out with any Scheme, you're going to have to follow that up by learning another (non-Scheme) LISP. You might as well just start out with Common Lisp and be done with it.
Judging by my experience, Scheme is not a language one should set out to learn so much as a language one should learn as a side-effect of going through a book like SICP or The Little Schemer. Trying to do anything "real" with Scheme is an exercise in frustration, especially if you want it to be portable across Scheme versions, since the biggest names in Scheme implementations appear to be entirely uninterested in library portability except where "portable" means "Well, we can use it, and don't care whether you can."
Scheme itself is an excellent language, though. Too bad that, alone, is not enough.
What happened to the library situation in Common Lisp? Your comment looks like it improved since the last time I checked. That would be nice. (Though I fear Common Lisp is still too ugly for me to enjoy it. Perhaps some reader macro magic could rectify the situation. ;o)
I don't know if the library situation is good in Common Lisp. It's just enough worse in Scheme that it's kind of ridiculous to consider actually using it for other than academic purposes.
. . . but if you want to actually use a LISP for practical programming, and you start out with any Scheme, you're going to have to follow that up by learning another (non-Scheme) LISP. You might as well just start out with Common Lisp and be done with it.
Judging by my experience, Scheme is not a language one should set out to learn so much as a language one should learn as a side-effect of going through a book like SICP or The Little Schemer. Trying to do anything "real" with Scheme is an exercise in frustration, especially if you want it to be portable across Scheme versions, since the biggest names in Scheme implementations appear to be entirely uninterested in library portability except where "portable" means "Well, we can use it, and don't care whether you can."
Scheme itself is an excellent language, though. Too bad that, alone, is not enough.