Thanks Pauan and akkartik. I will definitely try out lite-nu and get back to you with my impressions. From the discussions on lite-nu here as well as the description on its Git page, it sounds very promising. I will also try out arc2js for the same reason.
@akkartik, I realize anarki is bleeding edge. I'm just grateful I stumbled across it and that it's working :) I will revert to the official Arc 3.1 version if it turns out to be too bleeding edge for me.
Now that I've been able to read more threads on this forum, I realize I would have saved a lot of time had I done so earlier. I wouldn't have gone on that long loop with Clojure and Common Lisp.
I think the main problem starts with the Arc Forum | install page (http://arclanguage.org/install). The instructions still are:
"1. Install version 372 of MzScheme. (Don't use the latest version. Versions after 372 made lists immutable.)
2. Get http://ycombinator.com/arc/arc3.tar and untar it.
3. Type mzscheme -m -f as.scm and you should get an Arc prompt.
4. If you ^C an Arc program, you'll get the Scheme REPL. Use (tl) to get back to the Arc REPL.
5. If you have questions or suggestions, post them on the forum. "
I assumed, naturally, that the most prominent page on the forum dedicated to installing Arc would be current. Hence the inevitable install run around.
If either of you are admins here, or if any admin comes across this comment, I would suggest that the Arc Forum | Install page REALLY needs to be updated. A lot of interest in Arc will be killed by frustrating experiences at set up time.
I did visit http://sites.google.com/site/arclanguagewiki (in fact I'd already bookmarked it). However, the instructions there just cover a series of links and could do well with a more detailed instruction set, especially if it is to appear more useful than the Arc Forum install instructions I've referred to above.
After I settle down with Arc, I will contribute in that direction.
Although I appreciate the interest, arc2js is currently unusable. I haven't taken the time to port it to either Arc 3.1 or Arubic, so as far as I know you can't actually use it. It's on my TODO list to fix it, but that's not very comforting!
It would, however, be possible to revert to an older working version of arc2js... but that would only work on ar, so I don't really recommend that right now.
Yeah your criticisms are valid. We haven't had the admin here in a while.
The best time to contribute is now, while the memory of your pain is fresh. Edit that frontpage of the wiki and distill the installation instructions that you have managed to glean.
I will do that. It's been my habit to take lots of notes when trying out new stuff, so no worries about forgetting. :) I will distill it as well as I can and start making some contributions to the wiki. In the absence of an active admin here, hopefully the wiki will start showing up on top of Google Arc searches.
Added an Installing Arc section to the wiki. It's very Ubuntu-centric right now and I will try to expand coverage in the future.
It doesn't yet show up on the top page of a Google search for "install Arc Lisp" but hopefully it will, and hopefully ahead of the Arc Forum | Install page. : )
