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Questions tagged [sicp]

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) is a classic textbook for learning how to program. The language used in the book is Scheme, a dialect of Lisp.

0 votes
1 answer
109 views

How does Lamé's Theorem give us an order-of-growth estimate for Euclid's Algorithm?

I'm reading SICP, and I don't understand how Lamé's Theorem gives us an estimate for the order-of-growth of Euclid's algorithm (the relevant passage is below). It would make sense to me if the ...
cnnrmnn's user avatar
  • 11
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Are lessons on tail recursion transferable to languages that don't optimize for it?

I'm currently reading through Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP). During the course of that book, the lesson of "you can optimize recursive procedures by writing them as ...
J. Mini's user avatar
  • 1,007
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

constraints in developing software

According to this As opposed to the constraints in other kinds of engineering, where the constraints of what you can build are the constraints of physical systems, the constraints imposed in ...
lightning_missile's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
304 views

Designing generic operations in object oriented languages

I found an interesting quote in SICP that I think is highly relevant in object oriented design: We see that, in general, a type may have more than one subtype. Triangles and quadrilaterals, for ...
lightning_missile's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
990 views

Help in writing more generic code

I'm doing a php MVC project using code igniter. I have two models, a and b. Each class contains four functions (insert, delete, update and view) and their implementations are almost the same with ...
lightning_missile's user avatar
32 votes
13 answers
5k views

Help in understanding computer science, programming and abstraction [duplicate]

Until now, I always believed that you should learn programming languages that make you do low-level stuff (e.g. C) to understand what's really happening under the hood and how the computer really ...
lightning_missile's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
615 views

Why sequences are recommended as conventional interfaces?

From the reference of berkeley's version of sicp text, It is mentioned that: Expressing programs as sequence operations helps us design programs that are modular. That is, our designs are ...
overexchange's user avatar
  • 2,305
11 votes
2 answers
4k views

Approaching SICP in Clojure instead of Scheme

I am a third year bachelor student in a software engineering program, and I brought up the idea of reading SICP to an adviser to gain a deeper and more fundamental understanding of the principles ...
ironicaldiction's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

What features does MIT-Scheme have that make it ideal for SICP?

I've been thinking about trying to get through the SICP again, this time well-armed with a better idea of what the SICP is meant to accomplish, and being older and wiser than my first attempt back in ...
Elf Sternberg's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

How can Lisp produce an iterative process from a recursive procedure?

I am starting to learn Lisp, using the SICP book. The authors mention that a procedure (i.e. function) can be recursive or iterative. Additionally, the process those procedures will generate will also ...
Daniel Scocco's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Practical reference for learning about graph reduction

Are there any practical references (with actual examples) for getting started implementing a small, lazy functional programming language with graph reduction? A reference that included the lexing and ...
user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
922 views

SICP - Why use accumulate with cons when filter already passes back a list

In SICP 2nd Edition section 2.2.3, the authors have the following code: (define (even-fibs n) (accumulate cons nil (filter even? (map fib ...
RAbraham's user avatar
  • 193
7 votes
2 answers
3k views

normal order evaluation -vs- applicative order evaluation

I am going through Abelson and Sussman (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs) and I am a little confused about when normal order evaluation is used and when applicative order evaluation ...
Jonathan Henson's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
10k views

Which is better SICP or HTDP [closed]

I have read that SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs) is hard and HTDP (How To Design Programs) is better as an introductory course. I would say I am fairly good in maths but not ...
Sumit Jain's user avatar