Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek • Hacker News Board

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#11

Post by limist » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 2:29 PM UTC

wizard_class wrote: post #10

limist wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure without knowing more of your background - provisional answer is "maybe." Some parts of Ch.1 are certainly math-heavy. The video lectures are quite accessible. Did you study, say, ~1 year of calculus?

yes, 1 year of calculus. differentiation and integrals were the only two calculus topics that I recognized from that chapter. at the time when I was trying to get through sicp I wasn't sure whether the pay off was worth the effort of covering all those math topics and I wanted to learn other programming related topics as well with my time.

At least up to 1.3.3, if you've already done single-variable calculus, the math isn't bad - it's stuff you likely saw before (if a while ago).

It seems heavier on math than it really is because (I believe) the authors want the reader to see the parallels between math notation (functional, declarative, concise) and Lisp implementation (also functional, declarative, and quite concise).

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#12

Post by kenferry » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 2:59 PM UTC

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP!

Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884

The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to

(1) Work on SICP by yourself during the week

(2) Once a week, discuss the material with your more advanced partner. The app builds in a videochat + whiteboard communication tool (you can see it in the app screenshots).

(3) When you get about a month in, also start discussing with someone who is just starting out. When you help that person understand, it very much improves your own understanding.

Basically, it gives you good discussion with people who are genuinely interested in SICP.

We've been running it in beta for a while – see https://twitter.com/understudyapp .

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#13

Post by JackMorgan » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:03 PM UTC

For anyone interested, Paul Snyder and I are running a SICP study group going on right now. We also have online and in person meetings in Philadelphia and King of Prussia. We are currently doing one minor section every month, which averages out to roughly one homework question every 3 days.

For anyone interested we will help you get setup and started, no prior programming needed.

We are running section 1.3 this month, so there is not much to catch up! Also, anyone who wants to work it their own pace is welcome too!

http://www.meetup.com/Clojadelphia/events/172933722/

Paul hasn't put up the info for the 1.3 online session yet, join the Clojadelphia group to get updates when he does.

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#14

Post by zenbowman » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:07 PM UTC

Our group, the LA Computer Science Reading Group has been interested in doing SICP for a while. For those in Los Angeles who are interested in joining us, here's the link to the meetup group: http://csrg.org

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#15

Post by zodiac » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:13 PM UTC

Shameless plug - I'm making an interactive version of SICP where you can edit and run the code in your browser.

xuanji.appspot.com/isicp/

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#16

Post by Orangeair » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:23 PM UTC

kenferry wrote: post #12

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP! Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884 The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to (1) Work on SICP by you…

Sounds like the learning equivalent of a Ponzi scheme ;)

In all honesty, though, this sounds like a really cool idea. I may check it out.

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#17

Post by SEMW » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:26 PM UTC

kenferry wrote: post #12

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP! Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884 The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to (1) Work on SICP by you…

That's an excellent idea. I'd be very interested in having this sort of help, and later passing it forward.

The actually app however seems to only run on one make of tablet (that I don't happen to own). I could be wrong, but it seems to me that most people'll be doing SICP exercises on a real computer, rather than a tablet. Why did you decide not to do, say, a webapp - or even to just assign the pairs and let them use whatever communication medium they have in common (skype, hangouts, IRC, whatever)?

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#18

Post by davexunit » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:28 PM UTC

kenferry wrote: post #12

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP! Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884 The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to (1) Work on SICP by you…

Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources.

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#19

Post by seabee » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:28 PM UTC

Orangeair wrote: post #16

kenferry wrote: post #12

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP! Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884 The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to (1) Work on SICP by you…

Sounds like the learning equivalent of a Ponzi scheme ;) In all honesty, though, this sounds like a really cool idea. I may check it out.

More like the learning equivalent of BitTorrent. I hope they have enough seeders!

Re: Why and How to Start Your SICP Trek

#20

Post by kenferry » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 3:30 PM UTC

Orangeair wrote: post #16

kenferry wrote: post #12

If folks are interested in having a person to talk to while doing SICP, we're doing it in the iPad app we released last Thursday. We were going to do a Show HN, but hey, HN's already talking SICP! Understudy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understudy/id782635884 The setup is basically like private music lessons. We pair you with a somewhat more advanced student also doing SICP. The deal is to (1) Work on SICP by you…

Sounds like the learning equivalent of a Ponzi scheme ;) In all honesty, though, this sounds like a really cool idea. I may check it out.

Yup, kinda! Except in a Ponzi scheme, value only flows down. Explaining something really straightens it out for yourself.

Conversation isn't zero sum.