Scheme core language specification

Question

I am learning my way around Scheme, and I am especially interested in how the language is constructed. I'm trying to find a nice description of the core syntax for a Scheme implementation. I don't know enough about the standards, but I assume that they all contain macro systems. If not, I'd like to read about a standard that also includes macros (they can't possibly be implemented in simpler Scheme constructs, can they?).

Does anyone have a good reference for the minimal syntax needed for a Scheme dialect?

Just an update:

I also stumbled upon this: http://matt.might.net/articles/compiling-to-java/#sec1. If you also add define-syntax and delay then it seems like it might be a good start.

In the R5RS specification, the following page appears to be what I was looking for: formal syntax

Answer 1

Although it may be a bit dry, you should read over the R⁵RS spec or the R⁶RS spec.

The docs really do not take that long to read through and you can just skim most of the sections until you need more detail. But either document does cover all of the minimal syntax required, including macros.