''Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, JavaScript Edition '' (SICP JS) is an adaptation of the

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

textbook ''

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs ''Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs'' (''SICP'') is a computer science textbook by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman. It is known as the "Wizard Book" in ha ...

'' (SICP). It teaches fundamental principles of

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

, including

recursion Recursion (adjective: ''recursive'') occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematic ...

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or " concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An a ...

modularity Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a s ...

, and

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming l ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

and

implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a real ...

. While the original version of SICP uses the programming language

Scheme A scheme is a systematic plan for the implementation of a certain idea. Scheme or schemer may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''The Scheme'' (TV series), a BBC Scotland documentary series * The Scheme (band), an English pop band * ''The Schem ...

, this edition uses the programming language

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...

. This edition features a foreword by

Guy L. Steele Jr. Guy Lewis Steele Jr. (; born October 2, 1954) is an American computer scientist who has played an important role in designing and documenting several computer programming languages and technical standards. Biography Steele was born in Missouri ...

and was published by MIT Press in April 2022.

Content

Like its original, SICP JS focuses on discovering general patterns for solving specific problems, and building software systems that make use of those patterns. The book describes computer science concepts using

. It also uses a

virtual Virtual may refer to: * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel (or range of frequencies) on which the signal travels * Virtual function, a programming ...

register machine In mathematical logic and theoretical computer science a register machine is a generic class of abstract machines used in a manner similar to a Turing machine. All the models are Turing equivalent. Overview The register machine gets its name from ...

and

assembler Assembler may refer to: Arts and media * Nobukazu Takemura, avant-garde electronic musician, stage name Assembler * Assemblers, a fictional race in the ''Star Wars'' universe * Assemblers, an alternative name of the superhero group Champions of A ...

to implement JavaScript interpreters and

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

License

The book is published by

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publ ...

under a

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has releas ...

Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 License. The text and figures are subject to a

Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 License. The JavaScript programs are licensed under the GNU Public License 3.0. The original image of MIT founder William Barton Rogers in section 2.2.4 is courtesy

MIT Museum The MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime histor ...

Origin

The

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...

(NUS) published draft editions online since 2012, and a first public release on December 13, 2019. SICP JS has been used in the course CS1101S at NUS since 2012.

Differences to the original textbook

While the book focuses on principles, models and abstractions for programming rather than specific programming languages, all examples in the original SICP are written in the programming language

. SICP JS uses the language

instead of Scheme. Since JavaScript shares its functional core with Scheme, the adaptation is straightforward and mostly literal in the first three chapters. Chapter four offers new material, in particular an introduction to the notion of program parsing. The evaluator and compiler in chapter five introduce a subtle stack discipline to support return statements (a prominent feature of statement-oriented languages) without sacrificing tail recursion.

Source

Source is a series of sublanguages of JavaScript, originally inspired by ,

Douglas Crockford Douglas Crockford is an American computer programmer who is involved in the development of the JavaScript language. He specified the data format JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and has developed various JavaScript related tools such as the s ...

. It comprises the languages Source §1, Source §2, Source §3 and Source §4, corresponding to the respective chapters of SICP JS. Each language is a sublanguage of the next, and designed to contain only features needed by the respective chapter. These languages are implemented by the

Source Academy Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institu ...

, a web-based programming environment that features various tools to support the readers of SICP JS.

References

External links

* {{JavaScript 2012 non-fiction books 2019 non-fiction books Computer science books Computer programming books Creative Commons-licensed books National University of Singapore JavaScript programming language family Scheme (programming language)