SICP in this day and age, worth it?
Somebody at work asked me whether to read it. I said yes without thinking. Then I thought about it and realised the honest answer's more complicated. Chapters 1-3 changed how I think about programs. Chapter 4 is a joy if you've got the time. Chapter 5 I've never finished.
Who else has actually read it, and would you tell a working programmer to bother?
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6 replies
Read it in 1998. Yes. No one will thank you for it.
Worked through most of it. The value for me was seeing that an interpreter isn't magic. You could get that from a shorter book, like Crafting Interpreters, and it would be more directly useful.
You could get the fact that it isn't magic. I don't think you get the feeling that a program is something you can pull apart.
Has anyone who "really needed" this book ever needed it at work?
there's #lang sicp in racket if you don't want to install a scheme. and a javascript edition, which i will not comment on
Read it slowly over one winter, one exercise most evenings. It wasn't useful, it was good for me, like walking. I'd say so to the person at your work and then let them decide.