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/lit/ - Literature

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13867115 No.13867115 [Reply] [Original]

How long would it take to read Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs and how useful is it?

>> No.13867127

>>13867115
>>>/g/

>> No.13867132

It's a very dense book that was intended to be used as a textbook for a semester long class, so if you are really reading it and doing the problems then it can take awhile to get through. It's not the sort of book that lends itself to skimming unless you are a genius.

Is it worth reading? I'd say it's worth it if you are interested in truly understanding computer science and want to become a competent programmer. The concepts the book teaches are still applicable today even if it Scheme (Lisp) is not the most popular language. In a way the book is Scheme. I feel like I understand programming better for having read it.

>> No.13867145

It depends on how much you wanna get out of it.
You can get through it in 3 hours if you just want to get acquainted with the basic, general details of how CS works, or you could spend 2 months with it and get the exact same information at a much higher comprehension rate. Doing exercises related to the topics touched upon in the book would probably help settle the ideas demonstrated there in your mind in a concrete way.
Will it be enough to get you hired as a programming/CS expert? Of course not, but it'll be the first step in the way.

>> No.13867149

>>13867127
issa book
>>13867132
cool, thanks

>> No.13867214

>>13867115
It's meme-tier.
Read The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth instead.

>> No.13867251

>>13867214
Isn't it incomplete?

>> No.13868163

>>13867214
>It's meme-tier.
It's not, but why do you say so?
>Read The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth instead.
A lot of it is dated by now and it mostly focuses on using math to analyze algorithms, which is very different than what SICP does. The books talk about different things, I'm not sure why you are comparing them. Seems to me like you don't really know what you're talking about.

>> No.13868261

>>13867132
Pretty much this. And you probably need some understanding of math and basic computer science to understand it.

>> No.13868394
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13868394

>>13867115
>How long would it take to read Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

If you really go through and do the exercises, it takes about a semester like the guy above said. Less if you aren't taking other classes at the same time

>how useful is it
It's worth a read if you plan to do a lot of programming. It gives you a lot of "tricks" that you can pull out later to solve tough problems.
Scheme/Lisp is a really different language that will break you out of your preconceptions about what's possible in a program.

Abelson and Sussman have a very idealistic approach that shows they have clearly not written that much "production" code. Even Kernighan and Ritchie are a bit like this IMHO. In real life you will more frequently use the "in the trenches" approach of old O'Reilly books and Microsoft employees. But you should at least know about the idealistic approach, because there's always that one case where a smarty-pants solution is the best.

>> No.13868552

>>13867251
You wouldn't finish it anyway.