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This would actually be a very good introduction for a race of alien visitors who'd never heard of cakes, baking, or kitchens.
by TuringTest 9y ago
This would actually be a very good introduction for a race of alien visitors who'd never heard of cakes, baking, or kitchens.
- bbcbasic 9y agoIf they are Vulcans or androids.
- shmageggy 9y agoNo it wouldn't for the same reason the article isn't a good introduction -- it relies on concepts that a naive reader doesn't understand. In your example the aliens are unfamiliar with kitchens, but the text mentions kitchens without any explanation. Similarly the article mentions and uses "sort" without any explanation. It seemed to be a fundamental concept but without any idea what a sort was I gave up. Every article on category theory does this.
- jjaredsimpson 9y agoThis isn't true. >Sorts and function symbols are just symbols. Something is a sort if it is in the collection of sorts. Nothing else is required. If you gave up before reading this, then you didn't even read the 4th paragraph.
- MichaelBurge 9y agoThere are 2 sentences between the first use of 'sort' and its explanation, which is that they are symbols with no interpretation. It looks like he defines function symbol before sort, presumably because function symbols are more important than sorts.