The word
scheme is similar to
schema, and thus has numerous meanings based on the area of expertise and context of the user.
See conceptual scheme[?].
In the context of
programming languages, the
Scheme programming language is a streamlined variant of the
Lisp programming language. It was originally to be called "Schemer," but the operating system on which it was first implemented had a six-character file name limit, so it was renamed "Scheme."
In
mathematics, a
scheme is a
topological space together with commutative
rings for all its open sets, which arises from "glueing together"
spectra (spaces of
prime ideals) of commutative rings. It is an important concept connecting the fields of
algebraic geometry,
commutative algebra and
number theory. Schemes were introduced by
Alexander Grothendieck.