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Lecture 1B | MIT 6.001 Structure and Interpretation, 1986

MIT OpenCourseWare · 115.8K views · 2009-04-08 · 58:22

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Overview

Lecture 1B of MIT's 6.001 Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (1986) with Gerald Sussman, covering procedures, processes and the substitution model. It includes the line about the power of naming things.

On Hacker News

HN commenters hold it up as an unmatched introduction to programming and quote Sussman's line that knowing a spirit's name gives you power over it.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2015–2017

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University lectures & coursesFunctional programmingCompilers, interpreters & program analysis
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What people said

gingerbread-man · 2017-03 · Strong recommendation

I don't think it's possible to do any better than this: [VIDEO] Admittedly, when I found my way to Sussman's course, I had already been programming for awhile, so the "magic" was less of Wow, I can write a computer program that does neat stuff! and more Wow, this makes everything I've been doing so much more clear and simple!

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clusmore · 2017-03 · Reference

Gerald Sussman covers the Tower of Hanoi problem in the SICP lectures [1]. The thing I find fascinating about this solution is that it doesn't even require the rule that you can't place larger discs on smaller discs - it simply is never optimal to do so anyway. And the solution is so simple, I wonder if you could invent a game by first coming up with a solution and then seeing what it actually solves. [1] [VIDEO]

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cgag · 2017-03 · Reference

"“To know a thing is to name it,” you advise. True names have power. The K language was invented by Ursula K. Le Guin, and is among the oldest and tersest forms of magic." Beautiful. I think the first time I learned the value of knowing the true names of things was here: [VIDEO] before I studied it in depth reading Rothfuss.

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Video by MIT OpenCourseWare, played through YouTube.

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