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Hi everyone, is there a kind of video/guided tutorial through Scheme and SICP? I have tried picking the book up on my own but have had a hard time retaining the information.
The ones prior to 2010~2011 used scheme, and it tracks SICP fairly closely.
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/playlist#c,s,Fall_2010,EC6D76F0C...
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Sounds like Berkeley are making a huge mistake and losing sight of what a University is there for. They seem to have moved to a more practical approach than theoretical approach. This is the type of approach that is more appropriate to a Technical College than a major University. This new approach almost seems like teaching civil engineers how to weld and rivet in order to build bridges, rather than deeply understand…
s/Berkeley/most universities in the States/
No one cares about getting an education. They just want a job.
Excellent article. I'm immensely glad and lucky to have had Brian Harvey as a professor, and this echoes exactly what he taught us and the general teaching at Berkeley: that the concepts of programming and computer science were of paramount importance, and that you should understand them in the abstract. To this day, this is why I value a good theoretical CS education, why I value university education, and why I cont…
Excellent article. I'm immensely glad and lucky to have had Brian Harvey as a professor, and this echoes exactly what he taught us and the general teaching at Berkeley: that the concepts of programming and computer science were of paramount importance, and that you should understand them in the abstract. To this day, this is why I value a good theoretical CS education, why I value university education, and why I cont…
"woah, this is unlike anything I've seen before." - it so totally isn't, if you know Ruby and to a lesser extent JS, both popular languages. It's a funky syntax coating on a fairly normal dynamic language, with about three quirks (tail calling, homoiconicity, and call/cc) all of which are more of interest academically than practically.
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Does MIT even use Scheme for their intro CS courses anymore? Harvey's article makes it sound like they switched to Python when they went from a "curriculum organized around topics" to a "curriculum organized around applications" - it seems to be the trend everywhere.
MIT did indeed switch from Scheme to Python for their introductory courses (though I've heard they still use Scheme in some more advanced courses).[1][2] However, I recall that a little later some MIT graduate students started teaching their own version of the classic SICP-based course. I can't seem to find a link to it now, unfortunately. I wonder how that turned out, and if they're still teaching it now. [1] - http…
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Yes, agreed, if you are reading this book, don't skip the exercises! You might need to refresh some math skills (just a bit), but it is worth it.
I was just going to post that they are on my agenda. I have actually toyed with the thought of putting together a "book club" to go through them. I will probably have to put this off till the Fall, though.
is a reading group just starting up now if anyone is interested
I have to confess I just discovered you can order a relatively cheap copy (well, compared to Amazon) of SICP direct from MIT. I have only skimmed so far, but combined with the lectures I have to say that I really wish that had been my introduction to programming. Maybe it is just because of where I'm at, but it really feels like in the first 3 lectures some of the more elusive topics of programming are at least touch…
Amaozn's got it for $46.55 (and it's eligible for Prime shipping) and MIT has it for $50; maybe I'm missing something? http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...
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s/Berkeley/most universities in the States/
It's also not just CS, though CS is the largest culprit because well... software is eating the world. No one cares about getting an education. They just want a job.
Hi everyone, is there a kind of video/guided tutorial through Scheme and SICP? I have tried picking the book up on my own but have had a hard time retaining the information.
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I'm a big fan of Clojure but I think this is true. I expect that in this decade we'll start seeing a shift to programming languages with so-called algebraic type systems. Java, Python, Ruby, and Clojure will seem outdated just like C++ seems outdated now (not that it doesn't have its uses).
C++11 is not outdated. Except for backwards-compatibility artifacts like header files, it's actually quite modern and pleasant to use. If performance is a consideration, then, put bluntly, it's the only high-level language available.