Why MIT switched from Scheme to Python (2009)

I was one of the last batches of students on the old Scheme curriculum. I absolutely loved it! Understanding that all loops could be done via recursion, and what a side effect is, is what fundamentally made me fall in love with CS. I've heard good things about the new, and now newer, curriculum but I know I wouldn't have had the awakening I did if it weren't for scheme.

RIP SICP

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ps another fun story: we had some test where we were allowed to bring in 1 page of reference notes. And turns out the entire scheme specification is short enough to fit on a double sided page if condensed. So my friend, mostly in jest, brought the whole Scheme specification to the test with him and figured every possible question could be answered that way!

> turns out the entire scheme specification is short enough to fit on a double sided page if condensed

I think this only held for R4RS and earlier. You can fit War and Peace on one page if you condense it enough.

>You can fit War and Peace on one page if you condense it enough.

"I took a course in speed reading, learning to read straight down the middle of the page, and I was able to go through War and Peace in 20 minutes. It's about Russia." —Woody Allen

I worked an MIT programmer who bragged about the Scheme curriculum. He was also the worst programmer that I’ve worked with. He really liked clojure and would constantly complain about Python syntax, and ended up quitting abruptly when his hand spun Datomic based system was rejected.

I think there is a trap in thinking that a strange way of being taught puts one at an advantage. It is really annoying to work with people who believe they are more enlightened than others.

That kinda defeats the purpose of why scheme was the language of choice in the first place! The goal was for us to fall in love with programming, not a programming language.

Every person I know who has studied SICP is a tremendous programmer.

In my working life I've literally never had the chance to program in a functional language...it's been 90% Python for me. And I mostly love it. Though I do remember when first learning Python I was bummed out how limited the Python `lambda` is.

Gosh, I even got to work with the Python BDFL for a couple years. I'm no Scheme zealot!