Welcome to 6.001!

This page is your entry to the course material. It includes current announcements of the course, pointers to other sources of information such as the online textbook, the course calendar, the programming projects, and the entry point to the online tutor system.

Resources for course material.

• This term we are providing several resources for the course material for you.
  • You can reach the online version of the text book (see the link below).
  • You can use the lecture based "text book" by going to the tutor, clicking on the Lecture link, and then for each lecture, using the "lecture slides in pdf" link. This provides you a version of the slides of the online lectures, together with associated text descriptions. While these lectures are NOT identical to the live lectures, they cover similar material and give you a different perspective.
  • You can access copies of the lectures slides of the actual live lecture, by clicking on the lecture link in the course calendar (see link below). Note that these will typically be posted after the actual lecture.
• "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", the text for the course, is available online (link below), or at Quantam Books, for about $64. It is also available at the MIT Coop. An online site that provides access for ordering books is found at bookX site (which is an MIT based site for connecting sellers to buyers).

Current announcements

December 12: Good luck on the final!

• The staff would like to wish each student in 6.001 good luck on the final. We hope that you do well, and have an opportunity to show us how much you have learned this term.

  We would like to also ask for your help. We have posted a last "problem set". It is completely voluntary and does not contribute to your grade. It asks your opinion on various aspects of the class, and your feedback would be very valuable in helping us understand how to improve the class for the future. We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to fill out this problem set. Note that this is separate from the HKN course evaluation form, which you are also encouraged to complete.

December 12: Underground Guide Evaluation

• The HKN Underground Guide evaluation of 6.001 will be completed online this term. Please visit this site to enter your comments about the course. You have until midnight, December 22nd to enter your comments. We would really appreciate your feedback on the course, as it helps us improve it for future terms!

December 12: Final Exam Details

• The final exam for 6.001 will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 on Wednesday, December 20th, in duPont. The exam will be closed book, but you may bring three sheets of notes (8.5 by 11 inches, both sides). You don't need to worry about remembering details of the evaluator, as we will provide code for that as part of the exam. Good luck!

December 5: Quiz 2 sample solutions

• Example solutions for Quiz 2 are found here.

November 24: Project 5 released

• The fifth and final programming project is now released on the projects page. Note the due date of December 5th. Also note that there is a code set to be downloaded as part of the project.

November 9: Quiz 2 coming up!!

• The second in-term quiz will be held on Tuesday, November 14, from 7:30 to 9:30 in 32-123. You may bring two pages of notes with you, otherwise the quiz is closed book. If you cannot make this time due to a conflict, there is a conflict exam set for Wednesday, November 15 from 10:00 to 12:00. If you need to take the conflict exam, please send a note to Donna Kaufman dkauf@.mit.edu informing her of your need. If you cannot make the conflict time either, please contact Donna to arrange a different time.

November 9: Quiz 2 review sessions

• The lab assistants will be holding review sessions for the second quiz:
  • Sunday, November 12, 7:00PM to 9:00PM (32-144)
  • Monday, November 13, 7:00PM to 9:00PM (32-144)

November 7: Confusing question in Project 4

• A student in the class spotted a confusing question (sigh!) in Project 4. Specifically Question 4 asks you to use the LUMINARIUM method as part of the OMNIFERUM method, but this doesn't make sense. LUMINARIUM picks a random spell, whereas OMNIFERUM should apply each spell in turn. Hence you should write OMNIFERUM without using LUMINARIUM.

November 6: Subtle bug in Project 4

• A student in class spotted a subtle bug in the code for Project 4. It is unlikely to affect you, but we note it here so you can change the code. Specifically, in the procedure make-handler there is currently a predicate clause:

  (and super-parts (not (filter handler? super-parts)))

  This relies on the empty list being treated as false, which holds in many Schemes but not in DrScheme. The correct code should be:

  (and (not (null? super-parts)) (null? (filter handler? super-parts)))

November 3: Project 4 released

• The fourth programming project is now released on the projects page. Note the due date of November 21st. Also note that there is a code set to be downloaded as part of the project. Please be aware that there is a fair amount of reading in this project (which defines the Object-Oriented System you will be using) and there is an open ended programming project, so plan accordingly!

Complete list of previous announcements

Getting help in 6.001

Just a reminder that the Lab Assistants in the 6.001 Lab are often available to provide help with course material. This is especially true if you visit the lab during non-peak hours (i.e. not right before a project is due)! See

How to get help/Staff hours for lab

for staffing hours.

Additional resources

The following links contain information that is of value in understanding the content and organization of the course