Code from MIT's 1986 SICP video lectures

(github.com)

141 points | by felipap 3 days ago

9 comments

  • 725686 19 hours ago
    If you are into SICP, you would probably like a nicely formatted html version of the book:

    https://sarabander.github.io/sicp/html/index.xhtml#SEC_Conte...

    And also this:

    https://eli.thegreenplace.net/tag/sicp

  • matheusmoreira 13 hours ago
    There's also this interesting study about the difficulty and time requirement of SICP's exercises:

    https://lockywolf.wordpress.com/2021/02/08/solving-sicp/

    The math stuff is brutal.

  • aesbetic 21 hours ago
    In the first lecture, Abelson says Computer Science is neither a science nor is it really about computers. Considering the current ML paradigm, maybe CS has finally earned its name as a science.
    • postexitus 6 hours ago
      It is one of the most memorable first lectures in the history of Computer Science.
    • bmitc 17 hours ago
      What about the current ML paradigm makes it a science?
      • computerfriend 14 hours ago
        Observing and testing phenomena we don't understand.
        • mcmoor 13 hours ago
          I guess it's been progressing from being math, to natural science, to social science
      • aesbetic 5 hours ago
        We have “laws” and routinely conduct “experiments” which are kind of unheard of in CS.
    • gjvc 19 hours ago
      quite the opposite
  • tmtvl 20 hours ago
    The SICP video lectures with Gerald Sussman and Harold Abelson got me into Scheme and from there on Lisp. Although now I'm wondering if this would be better as a 'Show HN' submission.
  • vismit2000 14 hours ago
    Most of the code from the book is also available here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13918465
  • hnarayanan 21 hours ago
    This is such a fun class!
  • xdavidliu 20 hours ago
    i watched the lecture series during the pandemic and commented on many of the youtube videos. in at least one instance, a library function is used on the board that is not compatible with the current function signature in mit scheme.
    • ted_dunning 14 hours ago
      Oh no.

      I suppose it is something to do with the fact that it has been, what, almost 40 years since the lectures?

      The fact that most of the code would still work is a miracle. That wouldn't work for, say, Java (which didn't exist in 1986). Nor C++. Nor Javascript (also not there back then). Fortran and C might be able to pull it off (but barely).

      Remember, we didn't have computers worth the name back then. Shoot, we didn't even have dirt yet, just rocks.

    • shawn_w 6 hours ago
      Which function?
  • carverauto 16 hours ago
    would be better if you could just use AI to re-do those particular scenes in the video series..
    • so-cal-schemer 9 hours ago
      I'd been hoping to do just this, but don't quite have the resources.
    • lgas 10 hours ago
      why can't you?
  • retr0rocket 21 hours ago
    [dead]