

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Second Edition (ePub) - ieure
http://github.com/ieure/sicp

======
prog
If there is one book that made me think differently about programming its this
one.

Oh I did know common lisp, and other languages like C/C++, Python etc. But
till then it was all about language features being built in for me. Which is
all good and useful.

Only problem is that I didn't realize that all this can be built upon some
very simple fundamental concepts. So when this book started with _only_ car,
cdr and lambda and built all sorts of higher level things out of it, it was a
real eye opener and I actually came to appreciate the value of a small simple
core in a language.

I saw the videos before I read the book. That was helpful.

~~~
mononcqc
even cons, car and cdr can be done with lambda, which adds to the mind
bending.

    
    
        > (define (cons a b) (lambda (f) (f a b)))
        > (define (car c) (c (lambda (a b) a)))
        > (define (cdr c) (c (lambda (a b) b)))
        > (car (cdr (cons 1 (cons 2 (cons 3 '())))))
        2

~~~
eru
And of course, even lambda is unnecessary. Using two combinators, customarily
called s and k suffices:

    
    
      k x y = x
      s x y z = x z (y z)
    

This system is called the SKI-calculus
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKI_combinator_calculus>). The I in SKI stands
for the identity, and can be expressed in terms of s and k.

As an example, here is the y-combinator:

    
    
      y = s s k (s (k (s s (s (s s k)))) k)

------
joubert
If you put it on Fifobooks (my startup), our platform automatically converts
it so it is downloadable for Kindle as well.

You can set the price to free.

------
santry
A set of video lectures of the corresponding MIT course are available at

[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-
sussma...](http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-
lectures/)

I just started watching them for fun the other day. They're really
fascinating.

------
silentbicycle
Do the exercises!

I know reading SICP blew your mind, but...do the exercises! Prove you
_actually_ know what you think you know - and when you the details make you
struggle, work it out. :)

------
futuremint
It was easy to grab an ePub reader from the Android app market to read this on
my phone. I still need to plug my iPad into my computer to "sync" the file to
the iPad to read it in iBooks. This is lame IMHO. Back on topic, this is a
great book. It got me into Scheme when I first read it 5 years ago (I didn't
attend MIT unfortunately)

~~~
ieure
If you put the URL into Safari on your iPad, it should prompt you to open it
in iBooks.

~~~
olifante
doesn't work for me. It only offers to open the .epub file in Stanza or
GoodReader. iBooks is not shown as a possible choice.

~~~
ieure
Wow, lame. It works with PDF, I assumed it would work with ePub. I assumed
wrong.

------
qhoxie
I've been using the scribd version of SICP. Last I saw the ipad version looked
great too.

[http://www.scribd.com/doc/15556326/Structure-and-
Interpretat...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/15556326/Structure-and-
Interpretation-of-Computer-Programs-SICP#full)

------
mak120
One of my all time favourite CS books. I especially liked the Alan J. Perlis
quote at the start.

------
itistoday
Any way of either converting this to PDF or getting it into something Kindle
can read?

Edit: Found this <http://epub2pdf.com/>

It's OK... Looks like it might be good for reading on an iPhone, not an iPad.
Are the pages supposed to be this tiny or did the converter not do a very good
job?

~~~
sjs
If you have a bit of time it's not that hard to convert a simple ePub file to
a single Kindle-friendly HTML file, since ePub is already HTML. Use your
favourite HTML library in your favourite scripting language to pull out the
contents of the <body> elements in each chapter, catenate them, throw a ToC at
the top if you want, e-mail it to your Kindle, and read.

~~~
mahmud
Question to you Kindle folks; it is possible to view 3rd party books that
aren't bought from the Amazon online store?

What about scanned PDF? DJVUs? Postscript? and how good is HTML support
(images?)

~~~
chrisbolt
Yes, the kindle will read any unencrypted mobipocket files just fine. The PDF
support isn't as good on the 6" kindle as on the DX though, since there is no
way for it to reflow. Don't think PS is supported, and never heard of djvu.

