Functional Programming in Scheme Name binding, Recursion, Iteration, and Continuations
The intuition behind continuations
A continuation of the evaluation of an expression E in a surrounding context C
represents the future of the computation, which waits for, and depends on, the value of E
Context C and expression E
Intuitive continuation of E in C
(+ 5 (* 4 3))
The adding of 5 to the value of E
(cons 1 (cons 2 (cons 3 '())))
The consing of 3, 2 and 1 to the value of E
(define x 5)
(if (= 0 x)
'undefined
(remainder (* (+ x 1) (- x 1)) x))
The multiplication of E by x - 1 followed by a division by x
An intuitive understanding of continuations of an expression in some context.