[post] SICP Recap

_posts/2015-05-26-sicp-recap.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: SICP Recap
+author: Correl Roush
+---
+
+Now that we've completed our study of Abelson and Sussman's Structure
+and Interpretation of Computer Programs, here's a quick recap of the
+topics we've covered.
+
+Notes and exercise work from each meeting can be found on
+[Github](https://github.com/extreme-tech-seminar/sicp).
+
+# Chapter 1: Building Abstractions with Procedures
+
+In the first chapter, we got acquainted with the simple syntax of
+scheme, and learned how to build up layers of abstraction using
+functions.
+
+## Important Concepts
+
+-   Evaluation
+-   The Substitution Model
+-   Compound Procedures
+-   Recursion
+-   Higher-Order Procedures
+
+# Chapter 2: Building Abstractions with Data
+
+In the second chapter, we learned how to build more complex data
+structures, and how to write functions to operate on them at different
+levels of abstraction.
+
+## Important Concepts
+
+-   The Closure Property
+-   Sequences
+-   Symbolic Data
+-   Data-Directed Programming
+-   Generic Operations
+
+# Chapter 3: Modularity, Objects, and State
+
+With a firm grasp on the core concepts of functional programming, we
+took a look at assignment with a fresh perspective, and examined the
+pros and cons of including assignment and state in our programs.
+
+## Important Concepts
+
+-   The Costs and Benefits of Assignment
+-   The Environment Model of Evaluation
+-   Mutable Data Structures
+-   Concurrency
+-   Streams
+-   Delayed Evaluation
+
+# Chapter 4: Metalinguistic Abstraction
+
+We moved up another level of abstraction, and started to look at the
+scheme language and how to implement it. We learned how delayed
+evaluation works by implementing it in our own version of scheme, and
+explored the declarative world of logic programming.
+
+## Important Concepts
+
+-   Data as Programs
+-   Separating Syntactic Analysis from Execution
+-   Lazy Evaluation
+-   Normal vs. Applicative Order
+-   Non-deterministic Computing
+-   Logic Programming
+
+# Chapter 5: Computing with Register Machines
+
+Finally, we moved out of the language a bit and implemented a virtual
+machine to explore low-level implementations of computer programs and
+to better understand how the physical limitations of processing speed
+and memory space affect the programs that we write.
+
+## Important Concepts
+
+-   Abstraction in Machine Design
+-   Using a Stack to Implement Recursion
+-   Storage Allocation and Garbage Collection
+-   Monitoring Machine Performance
+-   Compilation