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Bobby D. Bryan
#1 / 19
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 Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class? Thanks,
Bobby Bryant
Austin, Texas
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| Mon, 21 Apr 2003 02:44:50 GMT |
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Alex Schroede
#2 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
Quote: > Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a
> university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class?
I have been working for 3 years in the SQL/PLSQL/Centura/Java business and used C/Perl/Python/ELisp for fun. I just finished reading "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" and found it mind-boggling, intense, enlightning, fantastic... :) From what I read on amazon.com on the book, however, the readers are divided into a "we love it" and a "we hate it" part. I belong to the "I love it" part. I've heard people suggest that "those that know, appreciate it, those that don't, despise it." Could be that only my previous experience allowed me to see the light while reading SICP. I recommend it because it implements simple objects, implements
message passing, infinite lists, uses infinite lists to model streams,
uses streams to calculate even more complex streams, applies this to
create a query language, builds an evaluator of scheme using scheme,
implements the primitives in a register machine simulated using
scheme, builds a compiler for the simulated register machine... It
touches all major CS subjects.
Alex.
--
http://www.geocities.com/kensanata/
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| Mon, 21 Apr 2003 03:05:21 GMT |
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Bradley J Luci
#3 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? The Schematics of Computation, by Manis and Little, Prentice Hall. I call it "SICP for mortals" where SICP="Structure and Interpretation
of Computer Programs" by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman.
Brad Lucier
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| Mon, 21 Apr 2003 03:08:37 GMT |
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BG
#4 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? I am using "Scheme and the Art of Programming" by George Springer and Daniel P. Friedman ISBN 0-262-19288-8 On Wed, 01 Nov 2000 12:44:50 -0600, "Bobby D. Bryant"
Quote:
>Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a >university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class? >Thanks,
>Bobby Bryant
>Austin, Texas
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| Mon, 21 Apr 2003 04:23:38 GMT |
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Michael Parke
#5 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
Quote: > Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a
> university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class?
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman. Covers all the bases of CS, really shows off Scheme as an educational
vehicle.
Only negative I can think of is that it reads like a series of lecture
notes, which it probably is.
Michael Parker
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
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| Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:58:42 GMT |
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Brian Harv
#6 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
Quote: >Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a
>university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class?
You're getting all these different answers because "university-level" means different things in different contexts, and because different people have different programming philosophies. For example, I'd say Manis and Little are more software-engineering-oriented than the others people have mentioned. So I'm afraid you have to read the actual books to make a good choice. :-) <advt> If the beginners are real beginners, and you need a relatively
easy introduction, let me put forward my own _Simply Scheme_ as a
candidate. </advt>
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| Tue, 22 Apr 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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Boris Schaefe
#7 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
| [SICP]: Only negative I can think of is that it reads like a series
| of lecture notes, which it probably is.
Somebody in comp.lang.lisp (I think) recently mentioned that he
remembered the lecture notes that later became SICP. Me, I actually
liked the writing style and found it a quite enjoyable read. That may
have been due to the content though, which really is about the best
you can find in a CS book.
--
There are two ways of disliking art. One is to dislike it. The other is
to like it rationally.
-- Oscar Wilde
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| Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:59:01 GMT |
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dognew
#8 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? Yes, it is concise and exhaustive too... Jeff
Quote:
> | [SICP]: Only negative I can think of is that it reads like a series
> | of lecture notes, which it probably is.
> Somebody in comp.lang.lisp (I think) recently mentioned that he
> remembered the lecture notes that later became SICP. Me, I actually
> liked the writing style and found it a quite enjoyable read. That may
> have been due to the content though, which really is about the best
> you can find in a CS book.
> --
> There are two ways of disliking art. One is to dislike it. The other is
> to like it rationally.
> -- Oscar Wilde
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| Wed, 23 Apr 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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dognew
#9 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? My concern is that it is bit insufficient for a beginner to read. Sometime, I could be very angry to it because it doesn't provide necessary explanation to many core and primitive knowledge that a beginner might still be confused rather than show you too much philosophy from history and literacy perspective. Generally, I feel more thirsty and less confidence for exam after reading it. Jeff
Quote:
> >Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a > >university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class? > You're getting all these different answers because "university-level"
> means different things in different contexts, and because different
> people have different programming philosophies. For example, I'd say
> Manis and Little are more software-engineering-oriented than the others
> people have mentioned. So I'm afraid you have to read the actual
> books to make a good choice. :-)
> <advt> If the beginners are real beginners, and you need a relatively
> easy introduction, let me put forward my own _Simply Scheme_ as a
> candidate. </advt>
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| Wed, 23 Apr 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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Bradley J Luci
#10 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? Quote: Brian Harvery writes:
> >Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a > >university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class? > You're getting all these different answers because "university-level"
> means different things in different contexts, and because different
> people have different programming philosophies. For example, I'd say
> Manis and Little are more software-engineering-oriented than the others
> people have mentioned. So I'm afraid you have to read the actual
> books to make a good choice. :-)
Actually, I consider Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs to be "software-engineering-oriented"; their main focus is not on language features, or algorithms and data structures, but on large-scale program organizations (function-oriented (functional), data-oriented (object-oriented), streams, lazy evaluation, ...) that are suitable for different problem domains. I think that's important, so I like that Manis and Little preserves some of this approach in their book. Brad Lucier
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| Fri, 25 Apr 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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cbbro..
#11 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class? Quote:
> | [SICP]: Only negative I can think of is that it reads like a series > | of lecture notes, which it probably is. > Somebody in comp.lang.lisp (I think) recently mentioned that he
> remembered the lecture notes that later became SICP. Me, I actually
> liked the writing style and found it a quite enjoyable read. That may
> have been due to the content though, which really is about the best
> you can find in a CS book.
Much as with Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp," there is both the combination of: a) Material that is useful and valuable in the "body" of the work, and b) Footnotes that provide one of three things: 1. Obscure facts that few will care about [necessary, but not a "merit"]; 2. Commentary that is _hilarious_; 3. Commentary that is _extremely_ valuable. SICP's comments on OOP is a good case in point... --
<http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/linux.html> There is a theory that states: "If anyone finds out what the universe is for, it will disappear and be replaced by something more bizarrely inexplicable." There is another theory that states: "This has already happened..." -Douglas Adams, "Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy"
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| Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:17:37 GMT |
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Boris Schaefe
#12 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
| Much as with Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp," there is both the
| combination of:
| a) Material that is useful and valuable in the "body" of the work, and
| b) Footnotes that provide one of three things:
| 1. Obscure facts that few will care about [necessary, but not a
| "merit"];
| 2. Commentary that is _hilarious_;
| 3. Commentary that is _extremely_ valuable. SICP's comments on OOP
| is a good case in point...
Oh, I couldn't agree more. I loved the footnotes in both SICP and
ANSI Common Lisp. Unfortunately, I have a serious gripe with the
footnotes in ANSI Common Lisp and On Lisp. I just _hate_ footnotes
collected in a separate chapter at the end.
--
Never make any mistaeks.
-- Anonymous, in a mail discussion about to a kernel bug report
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| Sat, 26 Apr 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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Ramno
#13 / 19
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Suggestions for textbook for first-year CS class?
Quote: > Does anyone care to recommend a *good* textbook for use in a > university-level Scheme-based CS foundations class? > Thanks,
> Bobby Bryant
> Austin, Texas
I found "Concrete abstraction: an introduction to computer science using scheme" quite enjoyable...
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| Tue, 06 May 2003 03:00:00 GMT |
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