If you work through this, make sure to catch at least some of the video lectures available at http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...
Abelson and Sussman rock big time, plus: the outfits and hairstyles of the participants are just wonderful (mid-eighties!) ;)
Something about having proper page numbers and type setting makes going through a book easier. Like having a small, virtual progress bar as you go along.
A new SICP post makes the rounds at News.YC every week or so. As an experienced programmer (10 years, using functional languages, etc.), do I really need to read it?
Yes.
Yes! Go ahead and read it - this book is an amazing reading, you wont regret a second.
And do not forget to try the exercises at the end of every chapter. They are the key to fully enjoy the book.
Thank you very much for sharing this. I will be using this to verify my solutions for the exercises. I am planning to work through the book slowly but thoroughly.
Watch the video lectures as well, they're well worth it - and since they're for an earlier version of the book, you don't get presented with exactly the same information as you would be if they were in sync with the current version of the book.
The exercises are actually scattered throughout the text. Definitely don't skip them, some of them are a lot harder and more mind-blowing than they look.
No matter what experience you have you probably will learn something from SICP.
Yes it will be worth the effort. Alternatively, if you prefer a more modern book dealing with conceptual questions of programming in multiple paradigms in a similar spirit as SICP, have a look at Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming (http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html).
I just bought copy and started reading it this morning on the train, though I like the idea of them giving it away for free nothing beats a paper copy. There are lots of used copies available on amazon that aren't that expensive.
Anybody who would want to get rid of this book is insane. This is a book worth keeping your whole life whether you have read it yet or not.
I agree, if i'd have it i'd never get rid of it!
However the online copy is also really useful just to copy/paste bunch of codes to give a try live!
SICP and Concrete Mathematics would be the two books in my backpack if I suddenly went entirely broke and had to hit the streets.
Aww. Thought this was actually a "proper" PDF instead of just a printed copy of the online book :-(
This page has links to other formats (e.g., texinfo), the HP videos, and solutions to exercises (including my own, sadly not yet finished (but I'm working on it!)):