Scheme Requests for Implementation
![]() | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. |
The "Scheme Requests for Implementation" (SRFI) process is an approach for helping Scheme users write portable, yet useful code. It is a forum for people interested in coordinating libraries and other additions to the Scheme language between the various available Scheme implementations.
SRFI History
At the Scheme Workshop held in Baltimore, Maryland, on Sep 26, 1998, the attendees considered a number of proposals for standardized feature sets for inclusion in Scheme implementations.
Alan Bawden proposed that there be a repository for library proposals. Shriram Krishnamurthi volunteered to host the library, and Dave Mason and Mike Sperber joined him as initial editors and coordinators of the library process. The term "Request for Implementation," a pun on the Internet "Request for Comments," was coined at the workshop, and modified to "Scheme Request for Implementation" by the editors.
On Nov 1, 1998, the srfi-discuss mailing list was established which had as subscribers many major implementors of Scheme as well as other contributors to the language. An archive of the discussion is available.
The SRFI website along with the other SRFI procedures was established in late December 1998.