Is Sicp still relevant?

4 Answers. Yes, SICP is still a great book! The second edition, which is available online, as of 1996. Although, if you just want to learn Scheme instead of fundamental computer science, you might be better off with Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days.

Is Sicp difficult?

In my experience, SICP is a hard book. Don’t feel discouraged if you have a hard time with it. I personally struggled even for days with some of its problems or wasn’t able to solve them. I’ve read of even experienced programmer’s acknowledging the high content density of SICP.

Is Sicp worth reading?

Originally Answered: Is “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs” (SICP) worth reading? Yes. The ideas in the book are timeless and vital to modern programming.

Is Sicp still taught at MIT?

A blog post; excerpt: In this talk at the NYC Lisp meetup, Gerry Sussman was asked why MIT stopped teaching the legendary 6.001 course, which was based on Sussman and Abelson’s classic text The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP).

Does Sicp teach functional programming?

SICP is a high level introduction to programming through a functional language. The reason it uses a functional language is that it’s easier to describe a lot of mathematical concepts of programming in functional languages than in procedural ones and a lot easier to read than formal logic.

How quickly does SICP work?

What is the estimated time required for reading through the whole of SICP? – Quora. Your estimate of 2–300 hours seems accurate to me. It’s hard for me to say personally. The way I worked through it took me three months, but I’m certain someone could complete it in under one month even while juggling a full-time job.

Why is SICP important?

SICP is about standing back from the details to learn big-picture ways to think about the programming process. It focused attention on the central idea of abstraction — finding general patterns from specific problems and building software tools that embody each pattern.

How long does it take to finish Sicp?

Its about 20-24 hours worth of watching. Following this I started reading the book and implementing the exercises and the projects in the chapters (register machine, logic programming etc.) in Common Lisp. That required me to understand the concepts well enough to port the scheme stuff to common lisp.

Why did MIT stop using SICP?

Sussman’s answer was that: (1) he and Hal Abelson got tired of teaching it (having done it since the 1980s). So in 1997, they walked into the department head’s office and said: “We quit.

What is the best book to learn SICP and Java?

Joel Spolsky 2005 wrote a nice article about Java and SICP which may be of interest for you: I think Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is a great book to read. However, there are are a couple of problems with it.

Is structure and interpretation of computer programs a good book?

I think Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is a great book to read. However, there are are a couple of problems with it. The biggest problem in my experience is that, while the book requires absolutely no programming knowledge, and is geared to complete newbies, it is geared to complete newbies who study at MIT.

What is the purpose of the SICP?

SICP is a high level introduction to programming through a functional language. The reason it uses a functional language is that it’s easier to describe a lot of mathematical concepts of programming in functional languages than in procedural ones and a lot easier to read than formal logic.

What are some of the best introductory books on computer science?

Hal Abelson’s, Jerry Sussman’s and Julie Sussman’s Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Press, 1984; ISBN 0-262-01077-1), an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bibles of the LISP/Scheme world. Also, less commonly, known as the Purple Book.