Is Reading the Spec Enough?
- by jozefg
This question is centered around Scheme but really could be applied to any LISP or programming language in general.
Background
So I recently picked up Scheme again having toyed with it once or twice before. In order to solidify my understanding of the language, I found the Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme and have been reading through that along with my compiler/interpreter's (Chicken Scheme) listed extensions/implementations.
Additionally, in order to see this applied I have been actively seeking out Scheme code in open source projects and such and tried to read and understand it.
This has been sufficient so far for me understanding the syntax of Scheme and I've completed almost all of the Ninety-nine Scheme problems (see here) as well as a decent number of Project Euler problems.
Question
While so far this hasn't been an issue and my solutions closely match those provided, am I missing out on a great part of Scheme?
Or to phrase my question more generally, does reading the specification of a language along with well written code in that language sufficient to learn from? Or are other resources, books, lectures, videos, blogs, etc necessary for the learning process as well.
