SICP Support by PLT Scheme

1 Introduction

NOTE: This version of this package is a work-in-progress, and is not yet intended for use by arbitrary students. The goal of this version is to permit the more adventurous to help test and polish this package, so that in the future it can provide a smooth experience for students. Please direct feedback to Neil Van Dyke <neil AT neilvandyke DOT org>.

This package implements support in PLT Scheme to permit students of Abelson and Sussman’s Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)} textbook to use PLT Scheme tools for the programming assignments. The main reason students may wish to use this package is so that they can use PLT Scheme’s DrScheme programming environment.

Note that this package is not a project of the PLT organization. PLT has a related textbook, How to Design Programs (HtDP), with a different emphasis and a different pedagogic approach. A comparison of the two textbooks is beyond the scope of this document. A 2004 paper by some PLT members, “The Structure and Interpretation of the Computer Science Curriculum” [PDF], provides a PLT perspective on the differences.

The official Web page for this package is: http://www.neilvandyke.org/sicp-plt/

2 Installation

Installing this package consists simply of require-ing it from the Internet-based PLaneT software repository, and then restarting DrScheme. The steps in detail for how a beginner may do this through DrScheme are:

• 1. Make sure that the computer connected to the Internet.

• 2. Start DrScheme.

• 3. Change the DrScheme Language to Module. Specifically, select Language|Choose Language... to get the Choose Language dialog, then select Module and click OK.

• 4. In the top Definitions subwindow, paste the text:

  #lang planet neil/sicp

  "Restart DrScheme now."

• 5. Click the Run toolbar button.

• 6. Wait for the "Restart DrScheme now." message to appear in the Interactions subwindow, then quit DrScheme and start it again.

3 Usage

There are two separate ways to specificy use of the SICP Language in DrScheme:

• Change the Language to SICP, such as by using Language|Choose Language.... This is the normal way.

• When using the Module language, begin the Scheme file with the line:

  #lang planet neil/sicp

This package uses the soegaard/sicp PLaneT package by Mike Sperber and Jens Axel Soegaard to implement the SICP Picture Language. Note that you should not use the require form shown in the documentation for that package – this package provides the SICP Picture Language implicitly.

4 History

Note that PLaneT package version numbers of neil/sicp are used, rather than maintaning separate version numbers.

• Version 1.2 – 2009-05-04

  PLaneT packaging correction.

• Version 1.1 – 2009-05-04

  PLaneT packaging corrections. Also switched to using PLaneT package version numbers.

• Version 1.0 – 2009-05-04

  Documentation added. First public release.

• No Version – 2009-04

  Initial version by Neil Van Dyke. Uses Sperber and Soegaard’s Picture Language implementation by require-ing from PLaneT. Non-public distribution.

5 Legal

Copyright (c) 2009 Neil Van Dyke. This program is Free Software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License (LGPL 3), or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for details.