[jfb]

Pedagogically speaking, I think this is backwards. SICP isn't a course in functional programming; it's a course in programming. And the use of Scheme is critical, because it doesn't waste time on nonsense like classes and structs and other ephemera -- you just jump right into the conversation with the computer.

[mng2]

When I went to Berkeley, those with no programming experience were encouraged to take CS 3 (Simply Scheme) before taking CS 61A (SICP).

[jfb]

At Chicago in 1990, there were two intro classes; if you wanted to study CS (a math major at the time), you took 115/116, which were basically 6.001.

[james1071]

agree-that is what is so good about SICP.