11–20 of 141 posts
https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html
(I wish I'd kept my Knight of the Lambda Calculus button. Even having had prior programming experience, 6.001 was not pleasant.)
I first read SICP after 25 years of professional development, and while I didn't learn anything new I did see things in a whole new light. I think it would have been really useful to have read the book 25 years ago: I think you're going to benefit from having a few years of real-world development experience before reading this book. The profundity, impact and applicability to your work will be much greater. Highly re…
There is no Python-based version, Abelson and Sussman only produced one SICP based on Lisp. It is unfortunate that there are other courses by people not associated with Abelson and Sussman that have kept the same name but not the material. It is misleading to refer to these as "SICP" as they lack pretty much everything that made SICP great. SICP works on _multiple_ levels, it is not [just] a book about Lisp or a book…
Python is a "Lisp lite" and the parts of Lisp that Python leaves out or cripples are incredibly important.
Was glad to see this posted here, especially since in late August, I'll be taking the one-week SICP course that David Beazley in the Python community put together: https://www.dabeaz.com/sicp.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no Python-based version, Abelson and Sussman only produced one SICP based on Lisp. It is unfortunate that there are other courses by people not associated with Abelson and Sussman that have kept the same name but not the material. It is misleading to refer to these as "SICP" as they lack pretty much everything that made SICP great. SICP works on _multiple_ levels, it is not [just] a book about Lisp or a book…
Studying SICP in Python is kind of like reading the Odyssey via Google Translate. You'll get the gist of it, but you won't feel the earth move. Python is a "Lisp lite" and the parts of Lisp that Python leaves out or cripples are incredibly important.
Lua is a Lisp-lite, Ruby maybe a Lisp-lite, Python? No way, I'd go as far as say that Python is antithetical to the Lisp philosophy and yes, I know Norvig has claimed something similar in the past. It's still inaccurate and wrong. In an interview, Norvig pretty much admitted that popular appeal is more important to him than the inherent superiority [which he of course acknowledges] of the philosophy behind Lisp.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Studying SICP in Python is kind of like reading the Odyssey via Google Translate. You'll get the gist of it, but you won't feel the earth move. Python is a "Lisp lite" and the parts of Lisp that Python leaves out or cripples are incredibly important.
Mostly agree but: Lua is a Lisp-lite, Ruby maybe a Lisp-lite, Python? No way, I'd go as far as say that Python is antithetical to the Lisp philosophy and yes, I know Norvig has claimed something similar in the past. It's still inaccurate and wrong. In an interview, Norvig pretty much admitted that popular appeal is more important to him than the inherent superiority [which he of course acknowledges] of the philosophy…
And there should be a Peter Norvig review too for SICP, just in the vicinity of PG's. Link: https://www.amazon.com/review/R403HR4VL71K8/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pe...
Also, (2000) should be added to the title.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no Python-based version, Abelson and Sussman only produced one SICP based on Lisp. It is unfortunate that there are other courses by people not associated with Abelson and Sussman that have kept the same name but not the material. It is misleading to refer to these as "SICP" as they lack pretty much everything that made SICP great. SICP works on _multiple_ levels, it is not [just] a book about Lisp or a book…
Do you need to have a solid foundation in lisp to understand it or is it approachable for experienced software developers in other domains?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no Python-based version, Abelson and Sussman only produced one SICP based on Lisp. It is unfortunate that there are other courses by people not associated with Abelson and Sussman that have kept the same name but not the material. It is misleading to refer to these as "SICP" as they lack pretty much everything that made SICP great. SICP works on _multiple_ levels, it is not [just] a book about Lisp or a book…
Do you need to have a solid foundation in lisp to understand it or is it approachable for experienced software developers in other domains?
Just keep in mind that the students in question were at MIT. :-)
The book gets very deep (note some of the things that Paul Graham says in his review, and note who is saying those things). Be prepared to expend a lot of challenging brainwork to get through it, but nope, it doesn't rely on previous knowledge of Scheme. One of the many nice features of Scheme (and lispy languages in general) is there isn't a lot of syntax and so on to learn in the first place.
(procedure argument1 argument2...argumentn) is pretty much it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mostly agree but: Lua is a Lisp-lite, Ruby maybe a Lisp-lite, Python? No way, I'd go as far as say that Python is antithetical to the Lisp philosophy and yes, I know Norvig has claimed something similar in the past. It's still inaccurate and wrong. In an interview, Norvig pretty much admitted that popular appeal is more important to him than the inherent superiority [which he of course acknowledges] of the philosophy…
i you squint you'll see CLOS
It's available online for free from the publisher: https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html (I wish I'd kept my Knight of the Lambda Calculus button. Even having had prior programming experience, 6.001 was not pleasant.)