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Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

mitpress.mit.edu

21–30 of 77 posts

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#21

I finally read SICP half way through my career, but at that point it was too much old news to keep me interested, even if I recognized that it was a really well written book. So I actually stopped half way. Does anyone know of a good summary or alternate text of all the knowledge in it?

You can read the lambda papers, they very condensed and technical compared to SICP. Also, they cover more advanced topics.

Edit: Link - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lambda_Papers

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#22

I was fortunate enough to encounter this book in a first-year programming course (Informatik, RWTH Aachen). The years before, they had used Modula-3 and in the years afterwards they switched to Java. While it certainly changed my life - first encounter with functional programming - and I will always appreciate it, it is now 23 years later and I think it is time to acknowledge some shortcomings. The thing that comes t…

Actually I think interfaces are discussed in Chapter 2, when you write "packages".

What bugged me more about that part is, that no code is given for running solutions to the exercises. I know there is a "framework" online somewhere, written in Racket, but it would be nice to have it in Scheme instead, in a very large part portable to many Scheme dialects.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#23

I finally read SICP half way through my career, but at that point it was too much old news to keep me interested, even if I recognized that it was a really well written book. So I actually stopped half way. Does anyone know of a good summary or alternate text of all the knowledge in it?

"Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming" is considered the natural successor to SICP. I haven't tried it, but apparently it's a good deal harder.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#24
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

SICP was used as the reference book for the introductory course on programming on my degree. People with prior experience had the most trouble with recursion. Students with no programming experience whatsoever grasped the concept pretty easily.

I would try it out. It might need some analytically wired thought process, but again that is true for any kind of programming paradigm.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#25
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

I've heard good things about Code by Petzold although I haven't read it myself.

https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#26
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

SICP was used as the reference book for the introductory course on programming on my degree. People with prior experience had the most trouble with recursion. Students with no programming experience whatsoever grasped the concept pretty easily. I would try it out. It might need some analytically wired thought process, but again that is true for any kind of programming paradigm.

Recursion seems to be one of those inflection points that some people just can't get past.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#27
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

Automate the boring stuff with Python maybe. It quickly gives you useful results. But of course it’ll only get your feet wet, it’s nowhere near as formal and thorough as SICP.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SICP was used as the reference book for the introductory course on programming on my degree. People with prior experience had the most trouble with recursion. Students with no programming experience whatsoever grasped the concept pretty easily. I would try it out. It might need some analytically wired thought process, but again that is true for any kind of programming paradigm.

Recursion seems to be one of those inflection points that some people just can't get past.

That's because in order to understand recursion you must first understand recursion.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#29
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

To understand recursion first understand recursion on a recursive data structure (list, tree). It is very natural and there are loads of interesting algorithms. General recursion is more difficult to understand algorithmically so leave it for later.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

#30
post #17

My girlfriend has told me a couple times she wants to learn to program but this is the only intro book I own. I feel bad giving it to her because it just beats you with recursion right from the beginning (that isn’t to say it’s bad, I love it, that’s why I own a copy. I just feel like you’ll appreciate it most if you already know a little of some non functional language.) On the other hand she took it with us on a pi…

I've heard good things about Code by Petzold although I haven't read it myself. https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...

I've read it; it's a phenomenal book to understand more about how computers work on a hardware and conceptual level, but it doesn't really teach programming. Still strongly recommended.
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