# Resources for continuations / delimited continuations / racket continuation functionality from a beginner perspective?

**URL:** <https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690>\
**Category:** Questions & Answers\
**Created:** [February 6, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690 "2023-02-06T12:44:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dr-neptune](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/dr-neptune/32/988_2.png) [@dr-neptune](https://racket.discourse.group/u/dr-neptune)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690/1 "2023-02-06T12:44:27Z")

</div>

Hi folks,

beginner here on the path of learning continuations. I'm seeking resources for learning more about them. They seem very general, so anything would be appreciated -- however I would like them to be from the perspective of a beginner. Here is a list of what I have accumulated with the help of racket discord so far:

1. The Little Schemer briefly introduces letcc, The Seasoned Schemer has more on this
2. Matt Might's blog has 6 posts on them: [Matt Might's blog](https://matt.might.net/articles/)
3. Dan Friedman has a lecture on them: [https://legacy.cs.indiana.edu/~dfried/appcont.pdf](https://legacy.cs.indiana.edu/~dfried/appcont.pdf) (Thanks Racket Discord!)

Last time I asked about this topic, (I believe) usao on discord also brought up delimited continuations and that racket has more modern tooling outside of letcc for performing continuations. I'm assuming this is a big blind spot in the list above, so would appreciate any direction for studying them

Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@marc](https://racket.discourse.group/u/marc)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690/2 "2023-02-07T12:51:06Z")

</div>

Here are some resources on continuations I have collected over the years:

- [Web Continuations](https://docs.racket-lang.org/continue/) in the Racket web server is how I saw continuations for the first time in use (other than in Seasoned Schemer). When they are the right tool, they are awesome.
- Have a look at this discourse question: [What are examples of use cases for continuations](https://racket.discourse.group/t/what-are-examples-of-use-cases-for-continuations/806) - a lot of additional links on that page (too many, but good skimming)
- I walked through [this tutorial](http://community.schemewiki.org/?composable-continuations-tutorial) at some point and it made some things clearer, but I mostly copy-pasta-ed, rather than cooked.
- A bunch of talks by Jay and Matthew that gave me an inkling of the machinery, but often went above my head:
  - [Continuations on the web and your OS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAMtstt3Jp8) by Jay
  - [Delimited and Composable Continuations in PLT Scheme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=IKddmXjYa5U) by Matthew
  - [Continuation Marks: Design and Implementation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxsM4TC8Yw) by Matthew

- An answer by Matthew on [how delimited continuations are meant to be used](https://groups.google.com/g/racket-users/c/1P3ZxzCEmyQ/m/RIHS16ekEW8J). I saved this, but didn't read it, but I'm sure it's good given the author.

The web continuations are the beginner friendliest, but I started understanding them (to the extend I do) only after using them in a ritualistic way for quite some time. The rest goes quite deep (the associated papers even more), but I never dug deeper, as I didn't have to, despite finding the concept intriguing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joeld](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/joeld/32/38_2.png) [@joeld](https://racket.discourse.group/u/joeld)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690/3 "2023-02-07T21:09:15Z")

</div>

_Beautiful Racket_ has [an explainer on continuations](https://beautifulracket.com/explainer/continuations.html) also.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dr-neptune](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/dr-neptune/32/988_2.png) [@dr-neptune](https://racket.discourse.group/u/dr-neptune)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/resources-for-continuations-delimited-continuations-racket-continuation-functionality-from-a-beginner-perspective/1690/4 "2023-02-07T23:55:45Z")

</div>

Thank you! These are great!
