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Good stuff. Interestingly, the very first programming language offered in introductory CS class at my college was Scheme at the time (2000). The power of 'car'

Good stuff. Interestingly, the very first programming language offered in introductory CS class at my college was Scheme at the time (2000). The power of 'car' and 'cdr' still resonates in my head. At times, the parenthesis used to give me dyslexia but good old days of doing stuff like: (car(cdr(car(cdr(cdr a)))))

wonnage 13y ago
(cadaddr a) :P
- codegeek 13y ago
  but that takes the fun out saying "car of the cudar of the cudar of...". Seriously though, such a simple concept of list manipulation can be used to solve so many problems. I never realized the power of this until a long time after.
- brudgers 13y ago
  The power of Lisp is that it has a word for this concept.
latj 13y ago
Get a copy of this for the kids! http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-Edition/dp/0262560992/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-Edition/dp/0262...
- mentos 13y ago
  One of the best CS classes I took in college was an introduction to scheme that used 'The Little Schemer' as its text book. Having only worked in imperative languages it really opened my head up!
  - dmix 13y ago
    The MIT course on youtube from the 80s using SCIP and Scheme was the single best time investment I've made since learning programming. It still blows my mind how much it changed my perspective on programming.
    - latj 13y ago
      From the 80's? You have a link to which one you mean?
      - dobbsbob 13y ago
        6.001 on MIT open courseware Its the lectures for SICP tho not 2nd version but doesn't matter
      - dmix 13y ago
        1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72A58B492 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72... A year before I was born :)
- klibertp 13y ago
  I just read the chapter about fixed point combinator (aka Y). It's great, not only for kids. I tried reading the book a few years ago, I remember being irritated by the QA style it uses and dumping it because of it. On my second attempt I realized that it's only irritating if you know the answers very well and skipped to the chapter I didn't have so much confidence in understanding. And it was very pleasant experience, especially when I stopped to think a little before reading the answers. It felt like I was having fun. So I'd advise to give a book a go, even if you are confident in your Scheme and FP skills. Just skip the parts which seem too obvious to you and get to the interesting stuff, you won't be disappointed. Now it's time for The Seasoned Schemer, I guess :)

wonnage 13y ago

(cadaddr a) :P

codegeek 13y ago
but that takes the fun out saying "car of the cudar of the cudar of...". Seriously though, such a simple concept of list manipulation can be used to solve so many problems. I never realized the power of this until a long time after.
brudgers 13y ago
The power of Lisp is that it has a word for this concept.

latj 13y ago

Get a copy of this for the kids! http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-Edition/dp/0262560992/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-Edition/dp/0262...

mentos 13y ago
One of the best CS classes I took in college was an introduction to scheme that used 'The Little Schemer' as its text book. Having only worked in imperative languages it really opened my head up!
- dmix 13y ago
  The MIT course on youtube from the 80s using SCIP and Scheme was the single best time investment I've made since learning programming. It still blows my mind how much it changed my perspective on programming.
  - latj 13y ago
    From the 80's? You have a link to which one you mean?
    - dobbsbob 13y ago
      6.001 on MIT open courseware Its the lectures for SICP tho not 2nd version but doesn't matter
    - dmix 13y ago
      1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72A58B492 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72... A year before I was born :)
klibertp 13y ago
I just read the chapter about fixed point combinator (aka Y). It's great, not only for kids. I tried reading the book a few years ago, I remember being irritated by the QA style it uses and dumping it because of it. On my second attempt I realized that it's only irritating if you know the answers very well and skipped to the chapter I didn't have so much confidence in understanding. And it was very pleasant experience, especially when I stopped to think a little before reading the answers. It felt like I was having fun. So I'd advise to give a book a go, even if you are confident in your Scheme and FP skills. Just skip the parts which seem too obvious to you and get to the interesting stuff, you won't be disappointed. Now it's time for The Seasoned Schemer, I guess :)