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I'm fine with the claim that CS is not about computers as astronomy is not about telescopes, but there are pure CS courses that don't cover programming and do c

by abeppu 2y ago

I'm fine with the claim that CS is not about computers as astronomy is not about telescopes, but there are pure CS courses that don't cover programming and do cover automata, turing machines, computability, complexity etc and don't cover programming. SICP is about programs in a running language rather than abstract idealized computations, and is centered around reading and writing programs as examples. I think its success stems from its grounding in exhibiting such examples that ordinarily would not become accessible to students so quickly.

chongli 2y ago
If you watch the lecture videos they make it a point of emphasis that they’re not interested in teaching LISP and that the course is not a LISP course. To show running programs they had to select some programming language. This was a regrettable concession because some students will inevitably think the course is about that language and miss the general principles they’re trying to teach: 1. Primitive operations 2. Means of combination 3. Means of abstraction These are the three main features of programming languages, according to Sussman and Abelson. They wanted us to stop bikeshedding over the superficial details and just look at a tool for these 3 features, then be able to implement the algorithms and data structures we already know. This is how you become a wizard who can cast magic spells.