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Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days |
Description:
I think some of the other reviewers are unfair with their reviews of this book. Clearly it does not rise to the level of Abelson and Sussman's SICP, but it is an excellent lower-division level book (even at its "advanced" age).
The jacket notes indicates that it was designed to be a stepping stone between "The Little Schemer" and "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". I believe it achieves this goal admirably, covering the more critical pieces of Scheme in a detailed, well-explained manner.
It could certainly use an update, and I found the rigorous use of the full lambda notation in procedure declarations to be tedious. But these are small annoyances that do not detract from the book as a whole. And the fact that the core Scheme language, which is where this book spends its time, has not changed dramatically in the last decade means that even this older volume provides lots of useful information.
Bottom line is if you are looking for a current definition of the Scheme programming language, you want to pick up Kent Dybvig's "ANSI Scheme". If you are looking for help with SICP, or a good grounding prior to undertaking more advanced programming topics, this is an excellent introduction.
The jacket notes indicates that it was designed to be a stepping stone between "The Little Schemer" and "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". I believe it achieves this goal admirably, covering the more critical pieces of Scheme in a detailed, well-explained manner.
It could certainly use an update, and I found the rigorous use of the full lambda notation in procedure declarations to be tedious. But these are small annoyances that do not detract from the book as a whole. And the fact that the core Scheme language, which is where this book spends its time, has not changed dramatically in the last decade means that even this older volume provides lots of useful information.
Bottom line is if you are looking for a current definition of the Scheme programming language, you want to pick up Kent Dybvig's "ANSI Scheme". If you are looking for help with SICP, or a good grounding prior to undertaking more advanced programming topics, this is an excellent introduction.