>I was talking with neil last night about the possibility of starting a >programming SIG. One thing we discussed was getting a study group together >to go through Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (aka SICP) > >Also known as the "Wizard Book", it's generally considered to be one of >the best books about programming and computer science ever.
When I went to UO to study computer science I bought a copy of this book. At the first class I went too, Introduction to Scheme Programming, I was told by the instructor that Scheme sucked and that everybody should start out by learning assembly and C. The course went downhill from there. Every one dropped out except me. I worked my way through more than half of the book on my own, using the Scheme interpreter they had on the Macs in the computer science lab. Then, since I had already covered the curriculum for the first quarter's CS course I was told I could skip CS210. I did as I was advised and thereby missed out on interacting with the department's Scheme guru; it turned out that the professor teaching CS210 was one of the few Scheme die-hards there. Having spent close to a thousand dollars for the privilege of getting fucked over, I decide to change majors and studied fine art instead. At least in the art department I could play around with computers as tools of creative exploration. I did lots of beautiful computer art and even studied graphics programming with Craig Hickman, the author of KidPix. Anyway it was *fun* as the intro to SICP says computer programming aught to be. Unfortunately I had to go to the art department to find that spirit at University of Oregon rather than the computer science department where I had originally hoped to find it. A programming/Scheme/Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs study group would be fun, I think. The only problem is time/money and my/our debt-slavery to an unethical corporate/political system. <sigh> Dexter Graphic
