Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme.c,comp.lang.scheme
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news3.near.net!paperboy.wellfleet.com!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.Gsu.EDU!gatech!ncar!uchinews!twpierce
From: Tim Pierce <twpierce@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: Abelson and Sussman
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: kimbark.uchicago.edu
Message-ID: <D97EyD.IM2@midway.uchicago.edu>
Followup-To: comp.lang.scheme
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: Vinegar Cabal
References: <1995May25.041812.3034@kestrel.edu> <19950525T070916Z@naggum.no> <bakulD97A35.HtD@netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 21:15:32 GMT
Lines: 48
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.scheme.c:638 comp.lang.scheme:12798

In article <bakulD97A35.HtD@netcom.com>, Bakul Shah <bakul@netcom.com> wrote:

>>[K. Michael Dalal]
>>|   Do you know of a book that exemplifies similar programming concepts in
>>|   the C language?  The Abelson and Sussman book is my bible for
>>|   programming but I'm at a loss for how to best implement a lot of its
>>|   concepts in C.
>
>Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> writes:
>>I agree, it's an excellent book.  however, and this is actually a serious
>>answer, the best solution may be to implement a Scheme system and program
>>that instead of programming bare-bones C.
>
>We can safely infer from Michael Dalal's post that he is
>already using Scheme!  When he asks how he can *best*
>implement the same concepts in C, I read that to mean he is
>asking for something other than the trivial solution.
>
>I too would like to know if there is such a book for C (or
>for that matter, *any* other programming language).

There usually is, though I must say I'm perplexed as to why
this discussion is going on in comp.lang.scheme, which
hardly strikes me as the authoritative place for information
on languages other than Scheme.

Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language" is
usually considered the canonical introduction to the
language, containing some overviews on implemented
complicated programming structures.  It's not quite as
thorough as SICP is, perhaps because C is not generally
considered quite as subtle or sublime a language as Scheme
is.  (In fact, I haven't seen any language textbook that's
quite as exhaustive both on general programming topics and
on language-specific issues as Abelson and Sussman.)  I'm
not sure which subject you (or K. Michael Dalal) are most
interested in.

It seems to me that the other posters hit the nail on the
head by observing that "implementing a lot of [SICP's]
concepts in C" is not necessarily in itself a wise goal, any
more than it is to implement the goals of a fish in a
bicycle.

-- 
By sending unsolicited commercially-oriented e-mail to this address, the 
sender agrees to pay a $100 flat fee to the recipient for proofreading 
services.
