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MIT replacing Scheme with Python for Intro CS class
- tudorachim 19y agoWhat was wrong with sicp?
- projectileboy 19y agoAgreed. The issue isn't so much the language, it's what they plan to use to replace SICP. I can't see ditching the purple book as an improvement.
- Elfan 19y agoMIT is unusual in that it combines EE and CS into one department. While SICP may be the best intro to CS ever written, that does not mean it is the best possible choice for a combined CS/EE program.
- geebee 19y agoWho else is using Scheme for the intro course? Is it just Berkeley now? BTW, anyone know what Stanford uses for the intro sequence? Just kinda curious.
- mprovost 19y agoIndiana Univ Bloomington still appears to (C211).
- brent 19y agoYeah. That's what happens when you have Dan Friedman and Kent Dybvig on staff.
- utnick 19y agogeorgia tech switched from scheme to python too since I was there in the past 2-3 yrs
- Elfan 19y agoThe following Google search returns 320 results: site:*.edu "How to design programs" OR "structure and interpretation of computer programs" syllabus
- tmdg 19y agoStanford uses Java for their CS1 class, C++ for their CS2 class, and a combination of C/C++/Scheme/Python (or Java) for their CS3 class.
- pc 19y agoBerkeley, Northeastern, Indiana, Caltech, Brown, Yale (kinda)
- far33d 19y agoBrown uses Scheme for one of the intro tracks - it has two, the other is taught in Java.
- ctkrohn 19y agoInteresting. All my friends at MIT absolutely hated Scheme after taking that class; I don't know what the general sentiment there is.
- Zak 19y agoDid your friends say what it was they hated about Scheme after taking that class? I can see where people might make an association between the language and the difficult tasks they were being asked to perform with it.
- mdakin 19y agoThis is probably a personality thing. Many of my friends at MIT loved 6.001/SICP/Scheme and most of them at least respected it. Personally the class rewired my mind in fundamental ways and I appreciate that. That said I trust the folks running the Course VI department. I have not looked into the specifics of the new program but I suspect it is a fine program.
- whacked_new 19y agoCollegeBoard could make use of a python switch...
- Goladus 19y agoIf anyone has more substantial information or discussions about this, feel free to link it. 5 minutes on Google turned up very little. http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2006/11/scheme_out_python_in_mit.html http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2006/11/scheme_out_python... From what I recall, most of the examples from the first few lessons can be trivially rewritten in Python.