[BMarkmann]

Please don't what, have an opinion?

I read SICP as an experienced programmer and I didn't find it impractical at all; in fact, it kickstarted my interest in other lisps.

I read Realm of Racket as an experienced programmer (after knowing Common Lisp and Clojure well) and it was entertaining and, yes, a gradual introduction to Racket.

I'm sorry if you disagree, but was answering the question that was given with a couple thoughts that might be beneficial. I'm glad you feel confident enough in your interpretation of what was being asked and the OP's personal background and motivation to flame someone else without, I don't know, answering the question.

EDIT: I see you did answer him below, but my general response is still valid.

EDIT 2: Your response makes more sense given context. Sorry I got internet angry a little too quickly.

[klibertp]

And on a more general note - let's leave the misunderstanding to the separate thread - I'm glad you liked the books! I'm not saying you can't enjoy them - far from it - but if your goal is to just learn Racket quickly (where I interpreted "experienced dev" as "short on time working adult") then they are not the best resource for that. SICP is not even about Racket at all and RoR includes a lot of introductory material you wouldn't need. Instead of learning by accident, ie. reading weakly related material and hoping that an understanding will somehow form (which seemed to be default mode in education), I prefer using materials which are strictly on topic and are dense enough to be efficiently absorbed, but not so dense that it takes a day to go from one page to another. And to that my answer is: Wiki, tutorial&cheatsheet and the docs.

What is obvious is that YMMV - I'm just saying what I'd do if I wanted to efficiently learn Racket today. That's it.

[BMarkmann]

Yes, I totally agree it comes down to YMMV. Everyone's learning style is different -- some like dense documentation, some like book-style progressive walkthroughs. I certainly didn't learn CL by reading the HyperSpec, for instance... :-)

[klibertp]

My "please don't" was directed at the potential learner as in "please don't use this particular book if all you want is learning Racket" - not at you, in any way.

Also, I said it's a bad book for learning Racket In My Opinion. Of course it's all based on opinions and I just presented my own. No flame intended, at all.

EDIT: sure, no problem :)