4 ms·

I also really like a related book and its companion resource: * https://probmods.org/ https://probmods.org/ * http://forestdb.org/ http://forestdb.org/

by nextos 10y ago

wodenokoto 10y ago
I'm having a really hard time comprehending what should be simple code in church, the LISP like programming language used in probmods. Mostly I'm having a hard time figuring out if what-ever I'm working with is a function that requires input or is a result from a function. I'm mostly familiar with ML/NLP stuff in python. Is there some "trick" to more easily figure out what is going on? My understanding of the prerequisites was that lambda-calculus was not a requirement.
- nextos 10y ago
  Church is a Scheme dialect. Scheme is a Lisp-1, meaning there's a single namespace for everything, including functions. That is, a variable can be bound to a function object, an integer, a list, etc. This is IMHO a very good thing. Functions or macros can return other functions. It's not easy to say what is going on, unless you look a bit at the context to spot e.g. function applications.
  - wodenokoto 10y ago
    > That is, a variable can be bound to a function object, an integer, a list, etc. This is IMHO a very good thing. The same with Python, which I spend most of my time using. However, I cannot remember the last time I had trouble figuring out if I was dealing with a variable that contained a value or a function in python, whereas in probmod I am having difficulties with a simple countess application.
- probinso 10y ago
  If you're more familiar with JavaScript then checkout WebPPL. * made by the same people as 'church' If you're more familiar with Haskell, then checkout hakaru. If you are more familiar with Scala, or Java, checkout figaro. * has associated textbook https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Probabilistic-Programming-Avi-Pfeffer/dp/1617292338 https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Probabilistic-Programming-A... If you're more familure with Clojure, then checkout 'Anglican'

I also really like a related book and its companion resource: * https://probmods.org/ https://probmods.org/ * http://forestdb.org/ http://forestdb.org/

by nextos 10y ago

I also really like a related book and its companion resource: * https://probmods.org/ https://probmods.org/ * http://forestdb.org/ http://forestdb.org/

wodenokoto 10y ago

I'm having a really hard time comprehending what should be simple code in church, the LISP like programming language used in probmods. Mostly I'm having a hard time figuring out if what-ever I'm working with is a function that requires input or is a result from a function. I'm mostly familiar with ML/NLP stuff in python. Is there some "trick" to more easily figure out what is going on? My understanding of the prerequisites was that lambda-calculus was not a requirement.

nextos 10y ago
Church is a Scheme dialect. Scheme is a Lisp-1, meaning there's a single namespace for everything, including functions. That is, a variable can be bound to a function object, an integer, a list, etc. This is IMHO a very good thing. Functions or macros can return other functions. It's not easy to say what is going on, unless you look a bit at the context to spot e.g. function applications.
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  > That is, a variable can be bound to a function object, an integer, a list, etc. This is IMHO a very good thing. The same with Python, which I spend most of my time using. However, I cannot remember the last time I had trouble figuring out if I was dealing with a variable that contained a value or a function in python, whereas in probmod I am having difficulties with a simple countess application.
probinso 10y ago
If you're more familiar with JavaScript then checkout WebPPL. * made by the same people as 'church' If you're more familiar with Haskell, then checkout hakaru. If you are more familiar with Scala, or Java, checkout figaro. * has associated textbook https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Probabilistic-Programming-Avi-Pfeffer/dp/1617292338 https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Probabilistic-Programming-A... If you're more familure with Clojure, then checkout 'Anglican'