Glossary
program collection of procedures and static data that accomplishes a specific task.
procedure a piece of code that when called with arguments computes and returns a result; possibly with
some side-effects. In scheme, procedures are normal values like numbers.
function see procedure; they’re equivalent in scheme. Some other languages make a distinction.
argument An input variable to a procedure. A new version of the variable is created every time the
procedure is called.
parameter see argument.
expression A single valid scheme statement. 5, (+ 3 4), and (if (lambda (x) x) 5 (+ 3 4)) are
expressions.
value The result of a evaluating an expression. 5, 7, and 5 respectively.
type Values are classified into types. Some types: numbers, booleans, strings, lists, and procedures.
Generally, types are disjoint (any value falls into exactly one type class).
call Verb, the action of invoking, jumping to, or using a procedure.
apply Calling a procedure. Often used as “apply procedure p to arguments a1 and a2.”
pass Usage “pass X to Y.” When calling procedure Y, supply X as one of the arguments.
side-effect In relation to an expression or procedure, some change to the system that does not involve
the expression’s value.
iterate To loop, or “do” the same code multiple times.
variable A name that refers to a exactly one value.
binding Also verb “to bind”. The pairing of a name with a value to make a variable.
recurse In a procedure, to call that same procedure again.
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