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Going old-school: I'm reading "How to Design Programs" by MIT Press, and using LISP variation (feddit.uk)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by sekxpistol@feddit.uk to c/programming@programming.dev

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It actually uses a variation of LISP. I know old MIT college courses in Computer Science used to teach it.

The book, "How to Design Programs," is based on a variation of LISP, which I know used to be taught in college computer science courses.

I have zero programming experience, but I want to learn—not for a job, just to truly understand it.

A lot of modern advice says to start with Python because it’s easier or faster, but I’m not looking for shortcuts.

I want to go old-school. This book teaches programming with a 1990s-style approach. It may not use the latest tools, but I’ve heard it actually teaches how to think like a programmer and builds real logic skills.

Once I finish it, I plan to take the University of Helsinki’s Java MOOC. Again, sticking to fundamentals and learning the core ideas, not just trendy frameworks.

For context, I’m not naturally a math person either—I’m teaching myself beginning college algebra right now. That’s less about going old-school and more because I never had a college education, so I’m starting from scratch across the board.

So, does this sound like a solid strategy? My goal isn’t a career—just a deep, strong foundation to see if I can really do this.

What do you all think?

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[–] solrize@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

I don't remember being that impressed with HTDP but it's been a while and I didn't look much. I'd say read SICP first in either case.

The Java thing sounds totally uninteresting and if your next language after Lisp isn't a a mainstream one, I'd say try Haskell.

Regarding math: it can help but it's not that important for pure programming. If you're good at languages and writing, that's helpful in the same way. If you're good at music, that is at least a helpful mindset.

[–] sekxpistol@feddit.uk -1 points 2 days ago (4 children)

The Java thing sounds totally uninteresting

Again, about fundamentals. I actually wanna do python since is seems more "fun" but I wanna get all the basics down. And I did read after you have learned the harder languages, learning other languages comes much easier.

But I'll look into Haskell. Thank you!

[–] NightFantom@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In university we had c++ and python courses alongside each other, and I currently get paid to write python. I honestly believe my knowledge of c++ (and of course the rest of the courses which went deeper into cpu architectures and data structures and whatnot) makes me a better python programmer, because of the deeper understanding of what goes on under the hood.

[–] sekxpistol@feddit.uk 0 points 1 day ago

Great points. Thanks!

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