The SRFI and standard discussion here focuses mainly on those
who took the additional step of publishing their Scheme to the
world and committing to maintaining it and updating it. And
that's fine; that's exactly what it should do. But the vast
majority of people who implement Scheme, and I think I include
the people who eventually publish theirs, implemented it as a
personal challenge and a personal quest to reach the center of
something like understanding a mystery. It's personal, but it's
a long way from being a toy; it's more like a pilgrimage.
Thank you for this comment. I have been foolishly working on my own as-yet-unpublished from-scratch implementation of Scheme for countless years, and have persisted despite the fact that the project is, in many ways, impractical. But your use of the word "pilgrimage" struck a deep chord with me. I've always felt that, even if I never finish the work, the act of doing will have been useful to me.