My sister joined the compiler class and it was really good. You use LLVMLite to generate code
for a language that you call Be Gone. However, there you didn't use Pointers so, do you have a small example on how to fill pointers?
The SICP book can be found online for free from the publisher. So, no need to buy it unless you really want to have a hard copy. As for reading it in advance--most people find it to be a pretty challenging read (including myself). The whole point of the course is to work through the book, so I'd say it's not necessary to read it advance. You could certainly skim it. Maybe work a few exercises at the beginning. But, it's not really necessary to do much beyond that.