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Lecture 1A | MIT 6.001 Structure and Interpretation, 1986

MIT OpenCourseWare · lecture · Watch on YouTube

University lectures & coursesFunctional programmingProgramming language design

What it is

The first lecture of MIT's 1986 6.001 Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, given by Harold Abelson, introducing Lisp and the idea of computer science as the study of process.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Seen as a classic and often the moment programming 'clicks'; commenters praise Abelson's opening that computer science is not about computers.

  • 11 people recommended it
  • 9 different months
  • 6 strong recommendations
  • first 2012, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “the lecturer has an awesome way of explaining it”

    Fun, interesting intro to CS with an awesome lecturer teaching Scheme

    tinco, 2012-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Zuckerberg visits Stanford CS106A third year in a row”

  2. “It would be quite difficult to beat these lectures, while they appear a bit dated, the content is great.”

    Original SICP lectures, dated but great content

    r-s, 2014-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Interactive SICP”

  3. “blew my mind and made me switch from being a UX designer dabbling in Rails to a full blown programmer.”

    Black box abstraction and Lisp blocks inspired a career switch to programming

    dmix, 2017-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]”

  4. “this is where it all clicked to me”

    First ten minutes changed how the commenter views computing

    stuxnet79, 2018-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's an (article|book|vid) that changed the way you view programming?”

  5. “I highly recommend the first lecture in the SICP series”

    First SICP lecture on the naming of computer science

    otras, 2018-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What are some old talks (10+ y) that are still relevant to watch today?”

  6. “the best variation of this idea by far”

    Legendary best version of the idea that CS is not about computers

    dancemethis, 2021-05 · Strong recommendation · in ““Computer science is not about computers””

  7. “Here is the classic course”

    The classic Scheme course lecture series

    unabst, 2017-04 · Recommendation · in “Why MIT Switched from Scheme to Python (2009)”

  8. “I felt a similar sense of magic the first time I saw the derivative section.”

    Abelson and Sussman lectures conveying the magic of the course

    lunchladydoris, 2018-10 · Recommendation · in “Not Lisp again (2009)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: sicp, scheme, lisp, abstraction, computer science, mit

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