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

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

187 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0262510875

ISBN-10: 0262510871

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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.

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Editorial Reviews

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 theFree Software Foundation. Additionally, he serves as co-chair for the MIT Council on Educational Technology.

Series: Mit Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Series
Paperback: 688 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; second edition edition (September 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262510871
ISBN-13: 978-0262510875
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 187 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Development
- #119 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science > Programming Languages
- #130 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software

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4.1 out of 5 stars

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3.8 out of 5 stars

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Jaime Silvela

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

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.

59 people found this helpful

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russ olsen

Wonderful but challenging book

August 5, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is one of those much admired, frequently discussed, oft purchased but rarely read classics. It's not an easy read: It took me four tries to get through it.

But it's worth the effort: By the time you are done you will know about imperative programming, functional programming, meta programming, lazy data structures and everything in between.

This is one book that should be on every programmer's list.

9 people found this helpful

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August 19, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I have only worked part of the way through the book, but it is one of the best books I've had the pleasure of learning from. It has an academic mathematical flavor to it, and the material is fairly dense; but the authors are masterful teachers and the exercises are very effective. Scheme is a fascinating language. At first it is uncomfortable to look at, especially if you're used to more mainstream languages. But once you get acclimated, you begin to see the beauty and raw power it holds. I recommend using the Racket IDE with the SICP extension when working through the book.

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B. Dean

Computer Science...Art?

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.

30 people found this helpful

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Ikki Fenix

Great book. Has changed my perspective on the subject

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.

4 people found this helpful

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gkm77

Will change the way you think about computing

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?

13 people found this helpful

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Christopher Silvia

Fantastic resource for learning basic lisp

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.

10 people found this helpful

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Bill

One of my favorite textbooks from undergrad

November 27, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

One of my favorite textbooks from undergrad. It was used in my first CS class. It was first exposure to a language other than BASIC, so I acknowledge the bar was pretty low, but I was blown away.

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Most recent customer reviews

Diego

Great book

I think this is an awesome book for anyone who is studying computer science, just keep in mind that there is a certain math level required for some of the problems in the book.

Published 17 days ago

David A. Wheeler

and I mean that in the best possible way

This is a classic book. It's a challenging book, and I mean that in the best possible way. If you want a simple breezy book that doesn't make you think hard, this is not the...Read more

Published 25 days ago

CDADR

A brilliant tour guide

Spent a month for this and done most of the exercises. I remember almost everything about this book`s lesson, but I still can`t define what I have learned.Read more

Published 1 month ago

Dominique B.

This book explains every concept about programming languages, thus ...

This book explains every concept about programming languages, thus, it can represent every single compiler there is out there.Read more

Published 2 months ago

Glen Aultman-Bettridge

Terrible edition of a classic book

This is a classic computer science book, but this Kindle version is just an unformatted scrape of the free HTML version available online.Read more

Published 4 months ago

Martin Cornejo Saavedra

This book is the best academic book I've ever read

This book is the best academic book I've ever read! It is the most instructive book I've had. I studied Electrical Engineering, but thanks to the highly instructive style of the...Read more

Published 6 months ago

Carlos

Five Stars

Great book covering LISP, lambda calculus, and the meta-circular interpreter.

Published 7 months ago

Michael Sankovich

Useful for everyone who codes

A must read for anyone in programming. Useful for everyone who codes.

Published 7 months ago

Jeffrey Rubard

Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine

"Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers." Heraclitus

*Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs* – the second edition of which...Read more

Published 8 months ago

Steven A. Watson

wow

I didn't know true beauty could exist in this ugly world but, sicp proved it's possible. This is precious. This must be protected.

Published 8 months ago

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