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by blintson 5851 days ago
Single quoting lets you pass a list without evaluating it.

(car (eval '(a b c))) vs. (car (a b c))

Do the same thing.

Have you read SICP? Somewhere in the 1st-3rd chapter there's an explanation of first-order evaluation that scheme uses. Once you know how scheme evals sexps, it makes sense that quote skips some of the steps of evaluation. I strongly recommend the SICP/Little Schemer/Seasoned Schemer if you haven't heard of them.

2 comments

> Have you read SICP?

I'm still in chapter 1.

Thanks for the explanation of the single quote. Can I convince you to add something about what a "symbol" is (and if it's connected in some way to the single-quote mechanism)?

Thank you.
Don't macros change the rule a bit?