I was reading this as a beginner after working through MIT600 on MIT OpenCourseWare.
I started off on this goal quite diligently, doing most of the exercises, and I think I got a lot out of that, but it took a long time. I spent about four months to get to the end of Chapter 3, even though I was devoting a lot of my weekends to it, and I started to get a bit overwhelmed and want to move on to other things. So I just read the last two chapters but I don’t think I took as much in.
It felt like I had traveled a long journey. The lecture videos were inspiring, and maybe I’ll come back after I’ve got more programming experience and do the last two chapters properly. I imagine it must have been quite intense to work through this as quickly as the class in the videos. They look really tired on the last day.
Also, I just got a job as a junior developer at a software company. So I think my study is starting to pay off. :) 10 months ago
Hi, after learning a little bit more I found out that a lot of the OpenGL in this edition of the book is deprecated. So if you are still learning, it’s better to look at newer books – there’s a newer edition of this and also a new OpenGL SuperBible. 10 months ago
I’ve made a pretty good start on this goal. I’m using DrRacket for my Scheme evaluation, with the SICP support kindly provided here: http://www.neilvandyke.org/racket-sicp/
I was using Aquamacs, but got frustrated. Sometimes it evaluated things. Sometimes it didn’t, and then it gave really vague errors. But I still like Aquamacs and have started using it for other things, so it was nice to discover it this way.
Usually when I try to work through a course on MIT OCW, I stick as closely as I can with the calendar. This time, I seem to have veered off a bit, and have developed the habit of just watching one lecture, then reading one section of SICP.
The sections are pretty long, and there are so many exercises that after that I get tired of doing exercises and don’t feel interested in going on the website and looking for more. So I’m thinking of changing this goal to just working through SICP. I’m up to section 2.2 so far.
I’m not confident that this will help me become a programmer in a very direct way, but it’s fun – it has a lot of maths interwoven with it. 17 months ago
I was a bit surprised by how hard I found learning C++ to be. There were a few concepts that I got stuck on and had to spend a while digesting. I kept forgetting and and having to re-learn things. Maybe I’m getting old and slow. But anyway, I finished this course now. I did Connect Four for the final project. Now I can look for a new OpenCourseware computer course to start – I think I will do an algorithms one and try to learn Java now. 18 months ago
Good luck to you too! I hope you are doing okay. I’ll add you as a buddy. The first day was not so great for me – I got a bit distracted doing ‘research’ – but hopefully today will be better. Best wishes. 18 months ago
I’m an INFP too! 19 months ago
And good luck to you as well! I’m called tigerbear on NaNoWriMo as well. I’ll look you up.
(I read No Plot, No Problem last time, but I think I’ve forgotten most of it; so I might have another look.) 19 months ago
I failed at this in 2009, when my plot fell apart. This year I don’t have much to do in November, so I’m trying again.
I’m preparing by reading a lot now. I’ve read three novels this week and I have a long list of books to read next. I’m also reading The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, and Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose.
I’m keeping a notebook, and have a basic plot planned out with a couple of characters. I’m anxious to start because lately the first page keeps going around and around in my head. I wake up in the morning with another few sentences each day. But I can’t type them, because I know it’s against the rules to start writing before Nov 1.
Also, I’m afraid it’s all going to fall apart again. 19 months ago
Last week I started learning about graphics. I’m reading a book called “Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach Using OpenGL” by Ed Angel and following the Harvard course CS 234 on iTunesU. I’m enjoying it so far. It combines so many things that I’m interested in and already know a little bit about – physics, maths, drawing theory, colour, programming. 19 months ago
as I’ve moved on to other things. It was just the last assignment that I didn’t do, and I keep meaning to get around to it but not, mostly because the problem (simulating virus population dynamics) didn’t interest me that much. Now I sometimes use Python to do things, so I will hopefully get better naturally, and I think I will cover object oriented programming again and again as I work through other courses. 19 months ago
I’m up to lecture 5 now and I’ve done the first assignment. The fifth lecture is about pointers, and I found it a bit hard to digest, so I decided to have a little C++ break today. I’m pretty happy with my progress so far. 22 months ago
Thanks StarEyedPanda. :) 22 months ago
I’ve finished watching the videos and done the first eleven assignments. Now I just need to do assignment 12 and the final exam. I’m finding it a little bit hard to motivate myself to do these last two things, since I feel like I’ve learned what I wanted to know from the course for now. But I like the idea of finishing things.
I’m going to have a bit of a break and start the C++ course. Then I will make myself do the last assignment and quiz at the end of the week. 22 months ago
