Simply Scheme - 2nd Edition: Introducing Computer Science

by Brian Harvey, Matthew Wright

This lively introduction to computer science and computer programming in Scheme is for non-computer science majors with a strong interest in the subject and for computer science majors who lack prior programming experience. The text allows the student to experience the computer as a tool for expressing ideas, not as a frustrating set of mathematical obstacles. This goal is supported by the use of Scheme, a modern dialect of Lisp, designed to emphasize symbolic programming.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Computers

579 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Kenghis Khan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The extra star is for the excessive effort these guys had to put in for what they did. It was not very effective. The biggest problem of this book is that it's full of confusing explanations the designers hoped would be "heuristic." This problem permeates the work from start to finish. The use of the special commands by the authors, not part of standard scheme, makes very little sense in most classroom settings that teach Scheme in the hopes of teaching functional programming. The whole idea of functional programming is that you have a bare group of essential concepts AND commands, and work your way from there. I had the great misfortune of taking a class where we weren't allowed to use the specially designed scheme commands for this book, but still had to buy it. If you are in that predicament, the book is completely worthless. Furthermore, while I admire the author's desire to prepare people for SICP, their treatment of this task borders on arrogance. At one point they actually suggest that "SICP was designed for MIT students" and that the rest of us aren't worthy of it yet. Quite frankly for anybody willing to take the time, SICP is not as terrifying as these guys make it out to be. This is a weak book.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique, eye-opening introduction to Computer Science / Programming. Functional Programming in Scheme taught here serves as a nice background for the famous SICP book.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The preface of Simply Scheme is fire: provocative, almost trollish, and daring - something that’d be impossible to publish today. I LOLed.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the assigned textbook for an intro CS course at UNH when they used to start out with Scheme. While I enjoy Scheme and LISP, I never got too into the languages and therefor haven't read any other Scheme books, so I don't have much to compare this book too. But the book was effective in teaching the language and making a good introduction to functional languages for those only accustomed to imperative ones.