SICP in Texinfo Format

MIT Press now distributes the second edition of the book Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) in HTML format. Lytha Ayth converted the book to Texinfo format, so that the book can be viewed in Emacs. S/he apparently redrew all the figures using ASCII text characters, which is rather perverse.

I've made very minor modifications to a version of sicp.texi that was circulating informally at MIT, and distribute my modified version (and a compiled sicp.info of it) via this Web page.

See also the SICP video lectures by Abelson and Sussman.

Update 2011-07-19: I recently learned that someone had taken these files and redrawn all the diagrams as part of making a print-quality PDF. I don't know whether this is within the spirit of distributing a free electronic version of SICP while the printed version remains for sale. I've decided not to link to that PDF version. The Texinfo version that I distribute is not suitable for printing, but remains useful for students with underpowered computers, and for the vision-impaired. (I received a note from one blind person who noted that the Texinfo version let him read the mathematical equations, which he could not with the HTML version.)

The latest version is 2.neilvandyke4 (2007-01-10).

You can download file sicp.texi.gz, which is the Texinfo source file (compressed down to approx. 400KB via gzip). You will need makeinfo to compile this source format to the Info hypertext format that can be viewed in Emacs.

Alternatively, you can download file sicp.info.gz (approx. 400KB), which has already been compiled to Info format. This was created by running: makeinfo --no-split sicp.texi -o sicp.info

Whether you compile your own sicp.info* file(s) or download the one above, you will probably want to put the sicp.info* file(s) into one of the info directories on your computer, and then add a line to the dir file in that directory like:

* SICP: (sicp). Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

If you have an install-info program, that program might create the dir entry for you.

(Yes, this is all a little archaic, but Info hypertext predates the Web, the Macintosh...)