> since you'd miss out on the real treasure of chapters 4 and 5,
> so this is just advice for anyone considering reading it using some other language: Just use Scheme, the flavor that SICP uses is a tiny subset and it takes a single lecture from the videos for them to explain it.
I would say for anyone on the fence, use Ruby, JS... if you don't know scheme and aren't willing to learn it to read a book. By the time you will reach 4th chapter, you will already know enough scheme. The book doesn't assume prior knowledge, and since you are translating scheme snippets, you already are practicing scheme.
I am not saying scheme is not the ideal language for the book; it is. I am just saying you can dip in your toes with the language of your choice.
> so this is just advice for anyone considering reading it using some other language: Just use Scheme, the flavor that SICP uses is a tiny subset and it takes a single lecture from the videos for them to explain it.
I would say for anyone on the fence, use Ruby, JS... if you don't know scheme and aren't willing to learn it to read a book. By the time you will reach 4th chapter, you will already know enough scheme. The book doesn't assume prior knowledge, and since you are translating scheme snippets, you already are practicing scheme.
I am not saying scheme is not the ideal language for the book; it is. I am just saying you can dip in your toes with the language of your choice.