The Seasoned Schemer (MIT Press)

by Daniel P. Friedman (Author), Matthias Felleisen (Author), Guy L. Steele Jr. (Afterword, Foreword),

8 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0262561006

ISBN-10: 026256100X

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Condition: Used - Very Good

In Stock. Sold by Christensen Sales Inc, Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

20 New from $32.70

FREE Shipping.

Turn on 1-Click ordering

More Buying Choices

20 New from $32.70 21 Used from $30.06

41 used & new from $30.06

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

The notion that "thinking about computing is one of the most exciting things the human mind can do" sets both The Little Schemer (formerly known as The Little LISPer) and its new companion volume, The Seasoned Schemer, apart from other books on LISP. The authors' enthusiasm for their subject is compelling as they present abstract concepts in a humorous and easy-to-grasp fashion. Together, these books will open new doors of thought to anyone who wants to find out what computing is really about. The Little Schemer introduces computing as an extension of arithmetic and algebra; things that everyone studies in grade school and high school. It introduces programs as recursive functions and briefly discusses the limits of what computers can do. The authors use the programming language Scheme, and interesting foods to illustrate these abstract ideas. The Seasoned Schemer informs the reader about additional dimensions of computing: functions as values, change of state, and exceptional cases. The Little LISPer has been a popular introduction to LISP for many years. It had appeared in French and Japanese. The Little Schemer and The Seasoned Schemer are worthy successors and will prove equally popular as textbooks for Scheme courses as well as companion texts for any complete introductory course in Computer Science.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $95.37

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:The Seasoned Schemer (MIT Press) by Daniel P. Friedman Paperback $38.00
Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping. Details
The Little Schemer - 4th Edition by Daniel P. Friedman Paperback $32.08
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Books & Bauble and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
FREE Shipping. Details
The Reasoned Schemer (MIT Press) by Daniel P. Friedman Paperback $25.29
Only 5 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Book-Net.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Daniel P. Friedman

66

Paperback
$32.08
Daniel P. Friedman

17

Paperback
$25.29
Daniel P. Friedman

8

Paperback
$20.11
Harold Abelson

182

Paperback
$47.21
Matthias Felleisen

17

Paperback
$30.12
Matthias Felleisen

16

Paperback
$28.00

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Daniel P. Friedman

66

Paperback
$32.08
Harold Abelson

182

Paperback
$47.21
Daniel P. Friedman

17

Paperback
$25.29
Daniel P. Friedman

8

Paperback
$20.11
Matthias Felleisen

16

Hardcover
$61.15
Matthias Felleisen

9

Paperback
$40.00

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Friedman and Felleisen's The Seasoned Schemer picks up where their book, The Little Schemer, left off and focuses on the myriad uses of functions in Scheme. Using the same dialogue format as The Little Schemer, the authors demonstrate how Scheme's flexible facilities for handling functions give the program so much variety and power. Along the way, the authors also present a variety of other more sophisticated language constructs.

Review

I learned more about LISP from this book than I have from any of the other LISP books I've read over the years...While other books will tell you the mechanics of LISP, they can leave you largely uninformed on the style of problem-solving for which LISP is optimized. The Little LISPer teaches you how to think in the LISP language...an inexpensive, enjoyable introduction.

(Gregg Williams Byte)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Series: MIT Press
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (December 21, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 026256100X
ISBN-13: 978-0262561006
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #32 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Lisp
- #1765 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science > Programming Languages
- #3498 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Customer Reviews

1 star (0%)

Write a customer review

See all 8 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Computer Books

2.7 out of 5 stars

Horror Books

3.3 out of 5 stars

Math Books

2.6 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

a reader

I thought I liked this book

March 18, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I thought I liked this book, but it turns out I don't like it that much after all. On the plus side, it's relatively short, and, if you work through it (with an appropriate scheme compiler), I think you get a good grasp of the language. However, the book is more work than it needs to be. I think the authors tend to make simple things difficult and difficult things, more so. They often seem intentionally obscure and leave one to figure out their meaning for themselves. Perhaps that's good pedagogy, but I'm unconvinced. Someone (unfortunately I don't recall who) said that programming is often mis-taught: that programmers are taught to use "puns" rather than directly saying what they mean. I find their code often reflects that observation. (I'm writing this after finally understanding their treatment of rember1* in Chapter 14. The routine isn't difficult, but I find their treatment challenging.)

I don't mean to be so harsh. I enjoyed reading The Little Lisper, and I intend to read the other "Little" books for their content (which is worthwhile) even if I don't appreciate their style.

Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Matthew J. Davis

A Valuable Extension To The Little Schemer

October 5, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book picks up and demonstrates using to letcc (call with current continuation) to speed up delivery of results or to simply forget pending applications and return to an outer list of s-expressions. Additionally there is more using of letrec and the demonstration of of using set!. The final chapter once again looks at creating the language within the language but this time including 'define' and using set! to update closures. If you felt reasonably confident with the Little Schemer you should be fine reading this extension book, and you will likely be much more confident with any lisp like languages having read it.

Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Jes Consuegra

The right way to learn Scheme programming language

March 7, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the second book, going more in depth with the language. Mandatory for everyone that wants to learn Scheme

CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Code Monkey

Entertaining reading for people who know the material

January 1, 2010

Format: Paperback

The Seasoned Schemer continues where the The Little Schemer - 4th Edition (a truly marvelous book) left off. It aims to extend the readers understanding of programming techniques and the Scheme programming language. It covers many interesting topics like memoization, the interchangeability of functions and data, mutable state, and programming with continuations.

Unfortunately The Seasoned Schemer has a strong inclination towards inside jokes for people who already know the material. In the process of charming the experienced reader it risks losing novices. How does a reference to Alonzo Church using call-with-current-continuation tell the novice that letcc is not available in many Scheme implementations? Why is there no real explanation of when and where to apply the "12th commandment" (use letrec to remove arguments that do not change for recursive application)? Why does a discussion about using closures and functions to model data structures devolve into trivia about circular lists? The text often seems like a sequence of such programming gems littered in a book with few clues for eyes unaccustomed to recognizing gems.

People familiar with the subject matter will enjoy the charming and concise discussion of fundamental (and often difficult) ideas. Other readers are probably better served by reading a proper text book on programming in Scheme. It's a real pity though, because once you get the inside jokes this really is a fine book! Just don't use it as your first book on programming in LISP like languages.

Comment 25 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Brent Fulgham

Excellent book on thinking recursively

July 26, 2000

Format: Paperback

This book is the second half of "The Little Schemer". It expects you to have mastered the previous volume, so it starts fast and picks up speed from there.
It covers a lot of ground in a slim volume (just as in "The Little Schemer"). This book introduces the concepts of closures and call-with-current-continuation (among other things).
As with "The Little Schemer", this book's strength is in its socratic instruction method. Lessons are written and illustrated as conversations between the reader and the instructor (in question/answer format). While this sounds strange, it is actually surprisingly effective as a means of learning the material. It might seem somewhat like rote instruction, but it can often frame foreign concepts in a rememberable fashion.
Neither of these books require much in the way of background or familiarity with the material. They were created as a means of teaching non-programmers to program in Scheme. However, I think they hold value for trained programmers as well.

Comment 31 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Peter Krumins

Extremely fun to read.

May 8, 2015

Format: Paperback

I've put this book #8 in my Top 100 Programming, Computer and Science books list:

http://www.catonmat.net/blog/top-100-books-part-two/

The Seasoned Schemer is continuation of The Little Schemer that I listed as my #4 favorite book in the first part of this series. This book is written in the same style as The Little Schemer and it's extremely fun to read. It's a dialogue between you and the authors but unlike The Little Schemer that teaches you to think recursively this book teaches you to think about the nature of computation. You'll learn about closures, continuations and continuation passing style (cps), y-combinator and implement your own Lisp in Lisp at the end.

Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

A customer

solid material - interesting format

February 24, 1998

Format: Paperback

Dialogue style makes this book fun to read. Leitmotif of food examples keeps the tone light and the reader hungry. Have the number for pizza handy before you sit down for this book.
Focuses on the use of functions in scheme, in an easy reading, enjoyable style. My only minor criticism is that the typographic conventions make the code hard to read. I realize that they serve a purpose, but it made the typesetting ugly.
An admirable work, suitable for reading even if you already "know it all", just because of its approach to teaching.

Comment 7 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

L. R. Cannon

Fishes?

December 15, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Silence! stir not! for a whisper
Would affright thy pretty prey;
Not a motion, little lisper,
Else the fish will glide away.

Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The Seasoned Schemer (MIT Press)

Set up a giveaway

The Seasoned Schemer (MIT Press)

Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open $33.98 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Turn on 1-Click ordering

Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open $38.00 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Turn on 1-Click ordering

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Review

Product details

Customer Reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

$33.98 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

$38.00 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open