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Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Book

mitpress.mit.edu

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

#71

Post by Jtsummers »

mesaframe wrote: post #70
jll29 wrote: post #48

If you only ever buy/read two computer science books, get your hands on Abelson/Sussman's SICP and Knuth's TAOCP. I could program before studying at uni, but thanks to our two-term course Algortmics I+II at FAU Erlangen (part I based on SICP), it seems a fog that I wasn't even aware of cleared.

Have you read TAOCP?

I'm not GP, but I read and worked through almost the entirety of Volume 1. I found it both approachable and enlightening. I have read (but not worked through) large chunks of Volumes 2 and 3, I have not purchased a copy of Volume 4 yet.

Volume 1 really works well if you also work through Concrete Mathematics (my professor and I started on Volume 1, diverted to CM, then back to Volume 1). CM provides enough additional math to get through chapter 1, where I was having a bit of trouble on some of the math heavy portions.

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

#72

Post by justinmeiners »

sergiosgc wrote: post #24
swiley wrote: 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.

It's "introductory" for MIT students who have a background in engineering, math, or physics, not average people off the street.

Recursion is hard for students to grasp when taught in math contexts as well, so I don't think this is a matter of prior CS teaching biasing them one way.

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

#73

Post by mesaframe »

Jtsummers wrote: post #71
mesaframe wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read TAOCP?

I'm not GP, but I read and worked through almost the entirety of Volume 1. I found it both approachable and enlightening. I have read (but not worked through) large chunks of Volumes 2 and 3, I have not purchased a copy of Volume 4 yet. Volume 1 really works well if you also work through Concrete Mathematics (my professor and I started on Volume 1, diverted to CM, then back to Volume 1). CM provides enough additional…

I want to work through the book I can barely find time for that.

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

#74

Post by Jtsummers »

mesaframe wrote: post #73
Jtsummers wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not GP, but I read and worked through almost the entirety of Volume 1. I found it both approachable and enlightening. I have read (but not worked through) large chunks of Volumes 2 and 3, I have not purchased a copy of Volume 4 yet. Volume 1 really works well if you also work through Concrete Mathematics (my professor and I started on Volume 1, diverted to CM, then back to Volume 1). CM provides enough additional…

I want to work through the book I can barely find time for that.

Fair enough, I don't have the time anymore myself. College and my mid-20s were the best time to do all of those things. Now that I'm approaching 40 I have very little time and have to be more selective in how much time I dedicate to these kinds of resources.

I actually started working through TAOCP one summer during a very boring sys admin job. I couldn't actually change the system to improve it, just complete whatever tasks were given to me and help customers. Maybe 1-3 hours a day of actual work effort. And in the pre-smart phone days, a book was easy to work through without distractions until the next ring of a phone call or ding of an email.

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

#75

Post by barracutha »

There is an adaptation of SICP written in JavaScript. It is used by the University of Singapore and it's frequently updated. It tries it best to retain the essence of the original but gives a new flavor to it by applying the concepts in ES6.

Here is the link to the book: https://source-academy.github.io/sicp/

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

#76

Post by ljw1001 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #26
sergiosgc wrote: post #24

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.

I thought it was a dark art before I worked my way through a few chapters of the Little Lisper. Then the spell was broken

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

#77

Post by peter_d_sherman »

dunefox wrote: post #36
peter_d_sherman wrote: post #2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_and_Interpretation_o... ">Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) is a computer science textbook by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman. It is known as the Wizard Book in hacker culture.[1][2] It teaches fundamental principles of computer programming, including recursion, abstraction, modular…

> Alyssa P. Hacker, a Lisp hacker I always thought "Alice P. Hacker" would be much better

Witty Response: She's a Lisp hacker AND a SAP programmer(!)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP) -- that's why her name is "Alys-saP." and not "Alice P."!
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