Sure, checkout Chapter 2 (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-13.html#%_chap_2 http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-13.html...)

Sure, checkout Chapter 2 (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-13.html#%_chap_2 http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-13.html...). It shows how you can define data structures such as lists or trees from a simple pair concept and then define generic operations over them, such as map. For me that's been one of the great things about the book, it shows how you can build higher and higher levels of abstraction from relatively simple structures.