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.
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
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. :)
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)
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?
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.
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.
The .mobi files work fine (.azw is a rename/tweak of mobi). That's what http://feedbooks.com (recommended, btw) gives out under the 'Kindle' download button.
PDFs work; I believe I tested a scanned bitmap on the DX (as chrisbolt said, full letter/A4 page PDFs not recommended on the 6inch screen).
Only did a cursory wikipedia HTML test, but the pic seemed to grayscale OK. (No Djvu, didn't try PS, not listed ...)
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.