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Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox book
| italic title = force
| name = Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)
| image = SICP cover.jpg
| caption = Cover of the second edition
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}}
 
'''''Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs''''' ('''''SICP''''') is a [[computer science]] textbook by [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] professors [[Harold Abelson]] and [[Gerald Jay Sussman]] with Julie Sussman. It is known as the "Wizard Book" in [[hacker culture]].<ref>{{Cite book |lastlast1=Raymond |firstfirst1=Eric S. |url=http://archive.org/details/newhackersdictio00raym |title=The New hacker's dictionary |last2=Steele |first2=Guy |date=1991 |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts| publisher = MIT Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-262-68069-1}}</ref> It teaches fundamental principles of [[computer programming]], including [[recursion]], [[Abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]], [[Modular programming|modularity]], and [[programming language]] [[Metalinguistic abstraction|design]] and [[Programming language implementation|implementation]].
 
[[MIT Press]] published the first edition in 1984, and the second edition in 1996. It was formerly used as the textbook for MIT's introductory course in [[computer science]] from 1984 to 2007. SICP focuses on discovering general [[Pattern|patterns]] for solving specific problems, and building [[Software system|software systems]] that make use of those patterns.<ref>{{Citation |last=Harvey |first=B |year=2011 |contribution-url=http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/sicp.html |contribution=Why SICP matters? |title=The 150th anniversary of MIT |publisher=[[Boston Globe]]}}.</ref>
 
MIT Press published thea [[JavaScript]] editionversion of the book in 2022.<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=MIT Press |year=2022 |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-computer-programs-1 |title=Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: JavaScript Edition |isbn=9780262543231}}</ref>
 
== Content ==
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== Characters ==
Several humorously-named fictional characters appear in the book:
* Alyssa P. Hacker, a Lisp [[hacker]]
* Ben Bitdiddle
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* [[Evaluator|Eva Lu Ator]]
* Lem E. Tweakit
* Louis Reasoner, a "loose reasoner"
 
== License ==
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''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]'' recommended SICP in 1986 "for professional programmers who are really interested in their profession". The magazine said that the book was not easy to read, but that it would expose experienced programmers to both old and new topics.<ref name="kilov198611">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-11/page/n83/mode/1up|title=Byte Magazine Volume 11 Number 12: Knowledge Representation|date=November 1986|language=English |page=70 |last=Kilov |first=Haim}}</ref>
 
A review of SICP as an undergraduate textbook by [[Philip Wadler]] noted the weaknesses of the Scheme language as an introductory language for a computer science course.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wadler |first=P |date=1987-03-01 |title=A critique of Abelson and Sussman or why calculating is better than scheming |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/24697.24706 |journal=SIGPLAN Not. ACM SIGPLAN Notices|volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=83–94 |doi=10.1145/24697.24706 |issn=0362-1340}}</ref> Wadler criticized in particular the lack of [[pattern matching]], obscuring [[equational reasoning]] and making the teaching of proofs harder; the lack of [[Algebraic data type|algebraic data types]] in Scheme and the over-reliance on [[cons]] pairs for both code and data representation, which can confuse beginning students; and the choice of [[Strict evaluation|strict]] instead of [[lazy evaluation]] as the standard evaluation strategy.
 
== Influence ==
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* ''[[Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics]] (SICM)'', another book that uses Scheme as an instructional element, by Gerald Jay Sussman and Jack Wisdom
* ''[[Software Design for Flexibility]]'', by Chris Hanson and Gerald Jay Sussman
* ''[[How to Design Programs]] (HtDP)'', which intends to be a more accessible book for introductory Computer Science, and to address perceived incongruitiesdeficiencies in SICP
* ''[[Essentials of Programming Languages]] (EoPL)'', a book for Programming Languages courses
 
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