Using DrScheme to Prepare Project Reports

1. You can open up a new window, like the definition window, by using the File menu's New option. That will give you somewhere to work on your report that is distinct from your definitions. Alternatively, you can directly write the report in your definitions window. If you do use a separate window, you should use DrScheme's Edit menu to Copy definitions and Paste them into the report, rather than manually retyping them. Students who retype inevitably make typos and wind up handing in procedures that couldn't possibly have worked.

2. You should start each line of the English text of your report with a semicolon, so that it is a Scheme comment. Not only does this prevent DrScheme from trying to execute your English text, it also prevents DrScheme from trying to automatically indent it as though it were Scheme.

3. You should keep your lines to at most 72 characters in length. At the bottom of the DrScheme window, to the left of the padlock, there are two numbers with a colon in between. These are the line number and then the character number on the line. You never want the number after the colon to go beyond 72. This is easier to do if you resize the window so that only 72 characters fit. That way, if you type too much on a line, you'll see the window slide over (scroll) to make room, which serves as a sign of trouble.

4. You can Copy and Paste sample input and output from the interaction window into your report as well, at least so long as the output is textual rather than images. Unfortunately, in this first project the output is images, and we haven't got the technology working yet to incorporate those into reports written in DrScheme. (When we have this resolved, we'll let you know.) For now, you can just print out the interaction window, label the images "Figure 1" etc., refer to them in your report by these labels, and staple the interaction printout to the back of your report.