Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) 2nd Edition

by Harold Abelson (Author), Gerald Jay Sussman (Author)

229 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0262011532

ISBN-10: 0262011530

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Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs has had a dramatic impact on computer science curricula over the past decade. This long-awaited revision contains changes throughout the text.

There are new implementations of most of the major programming systems in the book, including the interpreters and compilers, and the authors have incorporated many small changes that reflect their experience teaching the course at MIT since the first edition was published.

A new theme has been introduced that emphasizes the central role played by different approaches to dealing with time in computational models: objects with state, concurrent programming, functional programming and lazy evaluation, and nondeterministic programming. There are new example sections on higher-order procedures in graphics and on applications of stream processing in numerical programming, and many new exercises.

In addition, all the programs have been reworked to run in any Scheme implementation that adheres to the IEEE standard.

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Abelson and Sussman's classic Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs teaches readers how to program by employing the tools of abstraction and modularity. The authors' central philosophy is that programming is the task of breaking large problems into small ones. The book spends a great deal of time considering both this decomposition and the process of knitting the smaller pieces back together.

The authors employ this philosophy in their writing technique. The text asks the broad question "What is programming?" Having come to the conclusion that programming consists of procedures and data, the authors set off to explore the related questions of "What is data?" and "What is a procedure?"

The authors build up the simple notion of a procedure to dizzying complexity. The discussion culminates in the description of the code behind the programming language Scheme. The authors finish with examples of how to implement some of the book's concepts on a register machine. Through this journey, the reader not only learns how to program, but also how to think about programming.

About the Author

Hal Abelson is Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a fellow of the IEEE. He is a founding director of Creative Commons, Public Knowledge, and the Free Software Foundation. Additionally, he serves as co-chair for the MIT Council on Educational Technology.

Gerald Jay Sussman is the Matsushita Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the coauthor of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Press, second edition, 1996).

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Product details

Series: MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Hardcover: 657 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; 2 edition (July 25, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262011530
ISBN-13: 978-0262011532
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (229 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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- #44 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Compilers
- #295 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science > Software Design & Engineering

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The best programming book ever, if you're a certain kind of person

ByJaime Silvelaon August 26, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This was the book that made me want to be a computer programmer. When I read it, I had no knowledge of programming beyond a little Pascal, and rudiments of C.
It had a massive impact on me. It consumed me, to the point where I had difficulty finishing assignments for my classes (I did not study CS as an undergrad). What the book does is give you a vocabulary and knowledge about programming that is hard to find anywhere else.

The text, the examples and exercises, have a mathematical flavor, and that may turn off many potential readers, who would rather gadget around than find elegant solutions for the 8-queens puzzle or efficient algorithms to compute Fibonacci numbers.

I've lent this book to several friends who were interested in learning to program, and in all cases they have returned it to me, saying it went over their heads.
There seem to be two camps in computer programming:
- the gadgeteers, who want to hook devices together and make them do fun things
- the scientists, who appreciate computing as a medium in itself
This book is for the second type.

11 comment 29 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Computer Science...Art?

ByB. Deanon January 27, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

You need it, too. I won't pretend to have more useful insight into the art and craft of programming, or into SICP's relationship to it, than Paul Graham or Peter Norvig- if you want to know which reviews to trust, look these cats up.

The discussion in the reviews usually concludes that this is the book that separates the computer scientists from the mere programmers. There is a definite logic to this. If you want a book that will have you churning out code that does something helpful in half an hour(because you don't think the several ways to calculate the Fibonacci Sequence are helpful), by all means, pick up Learning Perl or just read the Python documentation. They are great tools. If, however, you want to tool up on problem-solving technique a whole level or three higher up, SICP is for you. The Wizard Book is about learning to think better.

Here is where I diverge from the idea that this book is for only computer scientists, though. I am an artist, graduated from college with a BA in art, going to graduate school for an MFA. SICP is one of the books that changed how I work and think. It will make you a better programmer if you read (and reread (and reread)) it in the same way that learning Latin will make you understand language itself in a whole new way. I use ideas from SICP constantly, to design software, but also to design staircases. The book is slow-going, no doubt about it, but you'll have a whole new mental toolset at the end.

One caveat- this book is freely distributed in its entirety on MIT's website. I still bought a copy, though: who knows how long this internet thing will last, but SICP is going to be relevant forever.

0Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great book. Has changed my perspective on the subject

ByIkki Fenixon December 31, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book. Has changed my perspective on the subject. I would classify it as an advanced book in the subject of computer programming. If you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of computer science I recommend reading this book.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Fantastic resource for learning basic lisp

ByChristopher Silviaon August 21, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I've worked through the first three chapters of exercises, and they are challenging and fun. I'm learning scheme so that I can get better at functional programming in general, mostly in Clojure and Javascript. Scheme is a perfect "teaching language", though, and I think that this book should be any aspiring programmer's first introduction to programming before they even touch a compiled language.

0Comment 7 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Indespensible

ByAlex Patchon July 7, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Not only is this, by far, the best book on programming I've ever encountered (sorry Dr. Knuth,) but it stands alone as a profound treatise on the nature of programming and knowledge itself. All of the best programming books of the last 30 years borrow extensively from SICP, but this boom remains a essential read for programmers of all levels. If Descartes wrote Scheme, I suspect it would bear profound resemblance to this work.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Difficult, but Rewarding

ByBenjamin Weinstein-Raunon August 10, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is not for the average person with a casual interest in computer programming, or for someone who wants to learn Scheme and Scheme only. This book is designed for motivated study, as you would find in a very difficult college course. It will make you better at thinking about problems. You will become a better programmer by reading it (and completing the exercises), but only if you are willing to put serious effort into understanding it.

0Comment 13 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Will change the way you think about computing

Bygkm77on October 18, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The authors have an ambitious goal - to fundamentally change the way you think about computing. Scheme is used as a vehicle to illustrate how large, complex systems can be designed by abstraction. Several real-world examples are used: a picture language, a circuit simulator, a compiler and a PROLOG-like pattern matching language.

To get a flavor of this book, search for "SICP Lecture 1a" in Google Video. It's the first of 20 lectures delivered by the authors of the book in 1986. If you decide to purchase the book, use it in conjunction with these lectures to get the complete SICP experience. You will come out of a smarter, wiser software engineer.

Also, how often do you see visionary computer scientists like Peter Norvig and Paul Graham give 5 stars to a book?