Customer Reviews

How to Design Programs: An Introduction to Programming and Computing

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book opened my eyes. I'd finished a Ph.D. in computer science, and had a decent exposure to quite a few programming languages and paradigms, before coming across this book. I was surprised to start working through this introductory book, and find myself learning new things! The book transformed my approach to programming.

From page one, HtDP starts talking about good program design, and gives a methodical approach. Until this, I'd always thought programming books were "here are ten small example programs; go write ten more." That's hardly teaching. But HtDP builds up a straightforward design recipe, to guide programs along. If I get stuck or have a mistake in my program, 90% of the time I realize it's because I strayed from the book's recipe. The approach is language-independent, although some programming environments make it much easier to implement the design recipe; the book provides links to a good (free) Scheme environment, which it uses for its code examples too. (I've come to use that environment day-to-day). My code--in any language--has become much more robust, and when I do have a bug I usually locate it early, thanks to this book.

In addition, HtDP made me think about things I'd taken for granted: How is assignment to a variable fundamentally different than assignment to a structure's field? Even, *why* do I use assignment statements in certain situations, instead of choosing a functional approach? How often do my programs actually need the efficiency of imprecise floating-point arithmetic, vs using bignums which totally liberate me from numerical inaccuracy?

Although the text is available on line, I cherish my hardcopy. This is a book to first learn programming from, and one to revisit every five years.

This book is going to be a classic. Unlike other introductory books on programming, it focuses on ideas not examples. It teaches students to organize their thoughts. It emphasizes thinking through problems. It pushes students to formulate concise comments, illustrate them with concrete examples, and test their programs systematically and automatically. I have not seen anything like this before. If you want to know the "why" and not just play with examples, buy this book! Note: It uses Scheme, which isn't widely used in industry (yet?) but don't let this deter you. The language is free, and it is very simple.

Have you ever looked at other people's codes and said to yourself something like "No... this isn't the way it should be written!". Or, worst yet, have you ever been asked by someone who wants you to read his/her codes and tell him/her what does it do?

Both things happened quite often, though.

The problems are mainly because they don't know how to "design" their programs properly. Being able to progam doesn't mean being to design/organize a good code at all. And being good at finding/inventing algorithms for problem solving doesn't mean that either.

One another thing, I (maybe just only me, I don't know) think that C shouldn't be taught as the first language (at least, not anymore). This is mainly because, in C, you can hardly express yourself. Also, C codes look cryptic to those new to programming. And you must know a lot, and practice a lot, (that takes a lot of time, friend) to be able to express what you want.
And also, several times, I saw many people just playing around with the * and & (well, the pointer-dereferencing, and address-taking symbol in C/C++), adding one more, deleting one off, to see which will make their programs work. (Sometime, it just works by miracle...)

This book, using Scheme (a modern dialect of Lisp) as the language of choice. I, personally, agree of choosing it. Scheme was designed in the way such that programmers can focus on what they want to express, rather than imprementation details. From my own experience, I became a better programmer after learning it. (I was already a C++ programmer by that time. I just have to use Lisp on my study/research).

One thing that I like is that, it focused on how to "design" programs, not just how to program, while college classes are mostly focused on how to write programs. No matter how students write their codes, if it could run, then it is fine.

Then, I think, a lot of people do have ability to program, a lot are good at it. However, the number of people who knows how to design programs are much lesser. And this would result in something like those silly examples at the beginning of this review. Therefore, this book had emphasized on quite an important thing.

And the last thing to say about this one is: MIT Press' textbooks are very high-quality, and this one is not an exception. It is very easy to read and to understand. And, even the html version is available at the book's official homepage, it is nice to have the printed version.

How to "design" programs is very important for every CS major people, and is important to everyone else in general (to program your "everyday life schedule", etc). Whether you want to become a professional programmer (write codes for living, etc) or not.

This book teaches the general tasks of planning, organising ones thoughts, designing, etc., using programming as its excuse. Directed at high school students, this is arguably the most solid foundation to being independent in ones productive work that one can give. It does require something from the teacher, though - it is easy to let the classes degrade into something close to what most people have come to expect from a programming course. With some enthousiasm, a course based in this book can be beautifully integrated with parallel classes in English composition, crafts, or (certain) team sports. (And about what other programming book can one say that!)

Does require some high school math.

This book teaches the general tasks of planning, organising ones thoughts, designing, etc., using programming as its excuse. Directed at high school students, this is arguably the most solid foundation to being independent in ones productive work that one can give. It does require something from the teacher, though - it is easy to let the classes degrade into something close to what most people have come to expect from a programming course. With some enthousiasm, a course based in this book can be beautifully integrated with parallel classes in English composition, crafts, or (certain) team sports. (And about what other programming book can one say that!)

Does require some high school math.

Eric Raymond writes in "How to be a hacker" that learning Lisp will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days. And this book shows why. With Lisp (actually Scheme, but never mind that), your programs match your problem statement. Programming is no longer a mystical experience where "it suddenly works". With this book (and Scheme) you understand *why* it works. In this day and age, it is exactly the book that freshmen should see .. especially those who think they already know how to program. Thanks for writing this book. It will make my teaching easier.

I have been professionally developing software for about 5 years. I found this book to be one of the most useful and helpful books to help my coding skills. Even though I have been programming professionally for a few years and have a computer science degree, I learned a lot of new neat concepts from this book. It also helped to me to remind me of all the basic good practices that I have forgotten.

It is also an excellent book for beginners. The books doesn't use a popular programming language like Java to accomplish its goals. Instead, it uses Scheme so the student can focus on the concepts rather than syntax. It also teaches great concepts and breaks the problem down on how to solve various problems. Also it isn't "hardcore" like SICP-- it is very friendly to non-MIT level people.

In the hands of the right teacher, this textbook is the best introduction to computer science, bar none. Students who complete this textbook will be able to calmly and methodically tackle complex programming problems that would be a struggle for many professional programmers.

However, I would not recommend it for self-study. Most of the high school students I have worked with found it hard to follow on their own.

Furthermore, in the decade since this book was first published, the authors of the book have continued to evolve this style of teaching, so some parts of the book are out of date (not in the sense that they don't work, but in the sense that it is no longer the recommended way to teach this material). All of the drawing exercises, for example, are now obsolete in favor of a new and improved animation teachpack.

I fully expect the second edition of this book will resolve these issues, and I look forward to giving the second edition a full five stars!

As a programming do-it-yourselfer I've had many conflicting responses to this text -- it's didactic style, its attention to detail, its sometimes patronizing tone, its rigor and broad scope and at the same time its immersion in minutia and quiddities I have never encountered in 'computer books' I had ever perused. Perhaps it's my liberal arts background, or love 'em/hate 'em sensitivity to all those broad stiff-spined textbooks I had carried in back-packs since childhood, combined with a disdain for the authoritative stilted style these educators exude -- despite their patent love of their subject. I felt at once both patronized and condescended to.
From the very start of their journey into a detailed six step-by-step process that show the reader how to analyze problem statements, how to formulate goals, make up examples, outline a solution, and test a solution the authors proclaim their pedagogical ends: "We [...] believe that the study of program design deserves the same central role in general education as mathematics and English. Or, put more succinctly, everyone should learn how to design programs..." This is not a textbook, this is a revolutionary pamphlet calling for educational reform. I had read nothing like this in the tens of 'Dummies' and 'In 24 Hours' books I had exposed myself to. One part priggish, two parts pedagogic. I often found myself asking for whom was it written? First-year college student?, ambitious would-be high-school programmer wanna-be? Math mavens? Surely not a middle-aged bookish clerk who tastes run more to Turgenev and Dostoevsky than Turing and Dijkstra. But then I demanded more than mere anonymous web-lurking from my lowly pc. I remember myself many years ago trying to learn BASIC on a massive time-share computer and telling myself surely there was had to be more magic to computing than this. Well, after reading more texts and having had to unlearn the 'Dummies' and the 'In 24 hours' style of disinformation I had finally found the marrow of a discipline that is as demanding as any I had ever come across and as vexing as any artistic rigor I had ever been inspired by. Come be confused, come be amused, amazed and intellectually abused. Sorely, if I find I have little talent for this excruciatingly logical endevour, I have also found a full-blown appreciation of such daunting computational cheekiness. Much to learn here, and this is only the "core subject of a liberal arts education." What had I been wasting my time on all those years as a professional student?

Pro: a really good book for beginners.

Con: do NOT buy this book. There's a FREE edition online!