Software Design for Flexibility: How to Avoid Programming Yourself into a Corner (MIT Press) is hot off the press, co-authored by Gerry Sussman, one of the authors of the classic Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.
8 thoughts on “Scheme lives!”
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Oh, not only does it live, but it has a Java version [see: https://norvig.com/jscheme.html%5D 😉
I hate when that happens (unrelated punctuation gets attached to the URL), try: https://norvig.com/jscheme.html
Wow – I thought Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs was one of the best texts
and (possibly) books I had ever read. Still recall being unable to put it down.
I had to code fully functional projects in Scheme (and Lisp, and Assembly to name some) when I was in collage. Those days, of all collage student candidates I have interviewed over the past some 10 years, even those with MS degree, Java and some C++ are basically the only language those candidates know. And if that’s not enough, they have no clue what happens under the hood of those language, some basic stuff such as heap / stack / real / virtual memory meaning and how they are usage is simply aliens to them. I find this very sad. So I’m sorry to say this, but this book won’t sell well because it is using Scheme.
> And if that’s not enough, they have no clue what happens under the hood of those language, some basic stuff such as heap / stack / real / virtual memory meaning and how they are usage is simply aliens to them.
And strangely (maybe even perversely) I find this the best reason to buy it! Am I doomed or am I saved?
Alex, here are 40 pages preview. Decide for yourself. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669475/software-design-for-flexibility-by-chris-hanson-and-gerald-jay-sussman/ At where I stand I would rather read nerdy physics for fun. But maybe I’d buy it if I would get to tutor an advanced teenager.
@Low Skilled Immigrant: Thanks for the tip for the 40 pages; I’ve read some of Sussman’s writing before and it’s like listening to an old friend talking. Have fun with the nerdy physics; I hope you’re on our side. 🙂
I like Scheme but has never seen a job requirement for it. Code lambdas are used widely in other languages.
The book would have been much more popular if it relied on widely used programming language. That goes back to my advise in https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2021/03/12/do-we-need-neutral-and-reliable-credential-tests-for-high-school-and-college-graduates/ comment to have recurring qualification testing for academia. How hard would it be for a prominent computer scientist to use a modern popular language for the book that intended for commercial software developers? First advise for commercial software developer not to code him/herself into the corner is to use a popular commercial programming language.