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Re: [PLUG] Suggestions for a 'computer science' textbook...
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On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 11:34:28PM -0500, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 04:19:05PM -0500, Chris Beggy wrote:
> > Are you asking me a question?
>
> Yes. And that question was... isn't SICP focused on Scheme (and,
> generally, on high level programming), as opposed to any hardware
> concepts or true (math) computer science?
>
> Having used SICP in a class that did recursion to death by way of
> Scheme and taught little else, that's my memory of it, but it could
> be skewed.
I think the point of the book is to teach CS principles in the context
of scheme, which is a simple enough language to be able to teach
concepts without focusing on syntax issues of the language
itself. But, unlike pseud-code, you can compile it and work with it
for the purpose of exercises and such.
It's difficult to teach about how to program without a programming
language, and C and it's ilk are too distractingly complex for these
purposes.
Scheme is not intended as a production language, just an educational
one. That was it's major design goal.
--
Jeff
Jeff Abrahamson <http://www.purple.com/jeff/>
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