Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs Foreword by Alan J. Perlis

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (affectionally called "S.I.C.P." by computer scientists) was the first book used in my own undergraduate studies, and I have since purchased the second edition, which adds new material. It teaches the essence of computer science in a series of chapters about different kinds of abstractions while pretending to teach the reader programming in the programming language Scheme, a variant of LISP. This book is a purcase for life, and you should cherish it, work it through end-to-end, and revisit it a few years later when you will have more experience, because the latter chapters are quite demanding. It's okay - you don't have to absorb everything on the first reading, and the first couple of chapters are very easy-going and insightful. After a few hours, the reader (best in front of a computer running a Scheme interpreter - there are many free ones) will be capable of developing non-trivial programs. Didactically speaking, this is simply the best computer science text book that I have ever read, and likely, that I will ever read - a must-own book!