scheje
A Scheme interpreter implemented in Clojure, featuring hygienic macros and a REPL.
What is scheje?
Scheje is a Scheme interpreter implemented in Clojure, providing a full-featured Scheme environment with hygienic macros and lexical scoping. It allows developers to run and extend Scheme code within the Clojure ecosystem, bridging two Lisp-family languages.
Clojure developers interested in language implementation, Lisp enthusiasts exploring Scheme, and educators teaching programming language concepts.
Scheje offers a clean, minimal implementation of Scheme with proper macro hygiene and cross-platform support, making it an educational tool and a practical embedding for Clojure projects.
Overview
A little scheme implementation on top of Clojure
Use Cases
Best For
- Learning how Scheme interpreters work
- Experimenting with hygienic macro systems
- Embedding a Scheme interpreter in Clojure applications
- Teaching programming language implementation concepts
- Building domain-specific languages on top of Scheme
- Running Scheme code in a ClojureScript environment
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring a high-performance, standalone Scheme interpreter without JVM or Node.js overhead
- Developers needing full R7RS compliance or extensive Scheme standard libraries
- Teams looking for a production-ready Scheme environment with comprehensive debugging and tooling
- Embedded systems or resource-constrained environments where Clojure dependencies are impractical
Pros & Cons
Pros
Uses the KFFD algorithm to prevent symbol capture in macros, as demonstrated in examples with let and and, ensuring reliable macro expansion.
Runs on both JVM (Clojure) and Node.js (ClojureScript) with REPLs, offering flexibility and fast startup on Node.js compared to JVM.
Built on a small core following Lisp philosophy, allowing easy extension with define-syntax, as shown in implementing let and other forms.
Provides an online interactive REPL to try Scheje without installation, lowering the barrier for learning and testing.
Cons
The library is minimal and bootstrapped from a starting environment, missing many features found in full Scheme implementations, as hinted in the TODOS section.
Requires Clojure or ClojureScript to run, adding setup complexity with lein or npm for projects not already in this ecosystem.
Open issues and TODOS indicate ongoing development, which may affect stability for advanced use, and it's tailored for Clojure integration rather than standalone Scheme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
MetabaseThe easy-to-use open source Business Intelligence and Embedded Analytics tool that lets everyone work with data :bar_chart:
LogseqA privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. Download link: http://github.com/logseq/logseq/releases. roadmap: https://logseq.io/p/NX4mc_ggEV
malmal - Make a Lisp
JepsenA framework for distributed systems verification, with fault injection
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.