because SICP was a great introduction, personally I think that Scheme (at least at first) is easier to pick up than Python. Our professor taught us basic Scheme

because SICP was a great introduction, personally I think that Scheme (at least at first) is easier to pick up than Python. Our professor taught us basic Scheme in 40 minutes no problem. Python takes longer than that because there is more syntax. Basically all you need in scheme are some () and define, lambda, cons, car, cdr, and cond for the first 4 or 5 weeks.