Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation
#2405 of 2,654 all-time
Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation
David S. Touretzky
3 people recommended it in 3 threads, 2020–2023.
What people on Hacker News said
If you haven't tried Lisp, this is a great book to start with, and it will open your mind to new approaches to computing without the tough academic grinding of SICP.
For me, it was Touretzky's Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation that finally made recursion click. He gives a fantastic, simple, high-level breakdown of different recursion models with simple, non-mathematical examples.
Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation(https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/LispBook/) has you build a number of small applications, like a substitution decipher application, a plotting function, and more, which it calls "keyboard exercises".
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects? 2023 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Do you recall any book or course that made a topic finally click? 2022 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What is the best book you read in 2020? 2020 · 1 recommendation