International Scheme

The purpose of this project is to translate the Scheme programming language to every human language.

Background

Scheme is a powerful programming language. How powerful? So powerful that you can translate most of Scheme into other human languages within Scheme itself. So powerful that you can incorporate these translations into your Scheme programs as libraries that you can mix and combine to write multilingual programs. So powerful that not only can you do all that, but you can do it more easily than you might have ever thought possible. By using two convenient abstractions defined in this library, you too can bring the power of Scheme to your language and experience the joy of expressing your ideas directly in the language of your thoughts.

How can I translate Scheme to my language?

Two macros are defined in international.scm: translate-procedure-names and translate-syntax-names.

• The translate-procedure-names macro is used to translate all the procedure names.
• The translate-syntax-names macro is used to translate all the syntax names.

Use template.scm as a starting point for translations to your language.

To translate Scheme to your language, simply replace each todo in the template with a translation of the identifier to its left.

For a list of identifier definitions, please see https://www.scheme.com/tspl4/summary.html

Where can I see an example of an existing translation?

Please see bosanski.scm for a translation of R6RS Scheme into Bosnian.

Below is a version of a "Hello, World!" (lit. "Healthy, World!") program in Scheme written in Bosnian.

(definiši (zdravo-svjete)
  (prikaži "Zdravo, Svjete!"))

For additional examples, please see examples.scm.

Why is the example translation in Bosnian?

Because Bosnian is a language that the author of this library speaks well enough to translate.

How can I write Scheme code in my language?

When you have created a translation file, simply load it into your project and write Scheme code in your language.

How can I contribute a translation?

Please feel free to contribute PRs of new translations of Scheme to your language as well as corrections to existing translations.

Are there parts of Scheme that cannot be translated using this library?

Yes, there are a few parts of Scheme that cannot be translated using this library.

For example:

• Existing error messages are not translated.
• Self-evaluating constants are not translated. (e.g. #t, #f, #\c, 12.3, "abc", etc.)
• Condition type names are not translated. (e.g. &condition, &who, &no-nans, etc.)

Is there anything else I should know about this library?

Yes, the translation of auxiliary keywords is not hygienic.

Here's an example of using the translate-syntax-names macro to translate the name of cond:

(translate-syntax-names cond uslov (else inače))

In addition to translating cond to uslov, this will also translate the auxiliary keyword else (which is internal to cond) to inače. However, all identifiers named else within uslov will be renamed to inače, even ones not in the expected position of the auxiliary keyword else as defined by cond. This can cause some unexpected behaviour, such as the following:

(uslov (#t (let ((else "this is not hygienic")) (display inače))))

Since the expected positions of auxiliary keywords are not known outside the definition of a macro, the only way to translate cond to uslov hygienically while also translating else to inače would be to re-implement cond and name it uslov.

Unfortunately, this may be a more difficult task for some forms, such as the library form.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.

Made in Canada with ❤️