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"I learned more about LISP from this book than I have from any of the other LISP books I've read over the years.... While other books will tell you the mechanics of LISP, they can leave you largely uninformed on the style of problem-solving for which LISP is optimized. The Little LISPer teaches you how to think in the LISP language... an inexpensive, enjoyable introduction." Gregg Williams, Byte
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not For Dummies,
By
This review is from: The Little Schemer (Paperback)
In 1974, Daniel P. Friedman published a remarkable little book called The Little LISPer. It was only 68 pages, but it did a remarkable thing: It could teach you to think recursively. It used some pretend dialect of LISP (which was written in all caps in those days). The dialect didn't fully conform to any real LISP. But that was ok because it wasn't really about LISP, it was about recursive functions. You didn't need a computer in order to work through the exercises. After reading the book, I was changed. Or perhaps transformed. Or altered. In a good way. There are very few books that deeply change the way that you think. This is one of those books.The format is a programmed text with questions on the left side and answers on the right. The way you use it is to read a question, think about the question, come up with an answer, and then compare your answer to Friedman's answer. He used the names of foods as the symbols that are manipulated by your functions, and little jokes were scattered around to pull you back when things get so deep that your head is going to pop off. It even has a place reserved for JELLY STAINS! The book has been through several revisions. The latest, The Little Schemer (Fourth Edition), updated by Matthias Felleisen, now conforms more closely to a real programming language, Scheme, and has new chapters which delve much deeper into recursive function theory and language processors. Felleisen is not as comfortable with the programmed text format, so instead of questions and answers, he has a deranged dialog going on which reads a little like Sméagol and Gollum discussing fishes. The Little Schemer is not a complete book on programming. It is weak in practical concerns like documentation, defensive programming, and computational efficiency. The development of a system of arithmetic from three primitives is delightful from a mathematical perspective and shockingly horrible from an engineering perspective. It also will not teach you very much about Scheme. It touches on only a very small part of the language: a very good part. Despite its flaws, the book has a very loyal following and that is because it works. It teaches one thing, a thing that is very difficult to teach, a thing that every profession programmer should know, and it does it really well. These are lessons that stick with you. You need to grab a sandwich and study this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book to start programming!,
By
This review is from: The Little Schemer (Paperback)
i enrolled a course which teaches Dr. Scheme, i find this book is easy to understand and contains more fun than the normal text book, i love it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have for learning functional programming,
By
This review is from: The Little Schemer (Paperback)
The Little Schemer is the first of a series of 3 books that are designed to teach the user functional programming. The book is written in a "Socratic" format, meaning that it is entirely written in a question and answer format rather than the typical paragraph format that most other books are written in.As with most computer science text's designed to teach a topic that is non language related: the biggest decision's the author is required to make is what language should be used? In this case the book chooses to use a dialect of the Scheme programming language. The book takes the approach of trying to teach the reader how to think in a functional manner rather than teaching the user how to program in the Scheme dialect. It accomplishs this by comming up with a list of 10 Commandments and 5 Rules that all functional programmers must follow inorder to write proper functional programs and then uses its question and answer format to build up examples that illustrate these Commandments and Rules. Pros: * Lots of example code, * Each example is gone through step by step * Each chapter has a clear focus, the Rules are clearly illustrated and explained. * Teaches the why of functional programming rather than the how Con: * The book may move a little slowly for some taste's A must have 5 out of 5
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