I've read the whole thing but didn't do all the exercises. I generally don't like doing exercises unless I don't understand a concept.
Poll: Have you read SICP?
41–50 of 110 posts
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'd be surprised. I worked through SICP a few years after graduating, and after the dragon book, and it still managed to warp my brain in new and exciting ways.
Congrats on making it through both. I haven't gotten to the dragon yet... For those interested, you can get a red dragon for significantly less than the newer editions (check amazon).
You can also get better compiler texts, these days. I recommend starting with Niklaus Wirth's _Compiler Construction_ (http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/books/CompilerConstruc...), then Andrew Appel's _Modern Compiler Implementation in ML_.
I have a comment linking together several threads of compiler-related advice on HN here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1922002.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#43Where's the answer "No, never heard of it"?
By reading the post title, you've now heard of it. Once you decide whether or not you want to read it, "No, and I don't want to" or "Not yet, but it should happen soon" would be a good choice for you.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#44"Kinda started reading it but didn't get what the hype is all about". I put it on my to-read list after reading Peter Norvig's review. I read maybe 2% of it and skimmed a lot more. While I'm sure I could learn quite a bit if I seriously studied the whole thing, I'm not sure it would be a good use of my time: most of the contents I already studied in college, though in a quite different approach. There are topics that…
"but if I decide to learn (say) compilation for real then I'd be better served by reading a book focused on compilation."
If you're a total noob at compilers, as I was when I read SICP (and still am) I think chapters 4 and 5 are a great intro. Like other Lisp/Scheme compiler and PL books (Lisp in Small Pieces, PLAI I think, EOPL to a lesser extent, parts of PAIP I think) SICP doesn't scratch parsing and lexing, but just uses (read). This means you can get to interesting stuff like program analysis and code generation without getting bogged down in parsing, at least at first. It's a really nice approach to learning that stuff.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#45In case you are interested, here is my shameless plug.
I am writing a series of posts about SICP in Python:
http://pedrokroger.com/2010/09/sicp-in-python-1-1-the-elemen...
Hopefully I'll have more time to continue with it this year.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#46It's the only book on programming that I can say changed everything about the way I code.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#47I took 6.001.
talked with a couple of guys from MIT who took 6.001, and asked them if they'd read SICP. They looked at each other and laughed, and said something along the lines of "Haha, ostensibly. I mean, we turned in our homework." Does that represent your experience as well? If that's a legitimate indicator of wider behavior on campus, then I can see why the professors might question the utility of that book in that setting.
Yeah, I guess that's about right. (usually) go to class, scan the pset and read up on the bits that don't make sense, or better yet, find someone to explain them. I do have some distinct memories of reading the book. I wasn't a great student and I find it a challenge to read lots of technical stuff without a specific purpose, so I'm not sure my experience is representative.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#48For those who have read it, I'd be interested in knowing what it is that you feel you got out of it, ie how did it make you a better programmer? Better understanding of what's going on at a low level?
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#49I spent 6 months and read the entire thing and did most of the reasonable exercises. I lead a Seattle SICP study group a couple years ago.
I Robotics is a much better domain. AFAIK this was the book that was took over for SICP in 6.001.
A web programming course would be an even better subject matter.
Re: Poll: Have you read SICP?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Congrats on making it through both. I haven't gotten to the dragon yet... For those interested, you can get a red dragon for significantly less than the newer editions (check amazon).
You can also get better compiler texts, these days. I recommend starting with Niklaus Wirth's _Compiler Construction_ ( http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/books/CompilerConstruc... ), then Andrew Appel's _Modern Compiler Implementation in ML_. I have a comment linking together several threads of compiler-related advice on HN here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1922002 .
I had a hard time with Appel's _Modern Compiler Implementation in ML_ when I did the compiler course (7 years ago...) for my CS major. I much preferred _Modern Compiler Design_ by Dick Grune et al. (http://www.dickgrune.com/Books/MCD_1st_Edition/). A second edition seems to be in the pipeline (http://www.dickgrune.com/Books/MCD_2nd_Edition/).