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What a great piece! I wish the author would expand on this piece with either more installments or a even short book. I find myself interested in type systems

What a great piece! I wish the author would expand on this piece with either more installments or a even short book. I find myself interested in type systems as it relates to programming language design but I haven't found much middle ground between the basic types described in introductory texts about a language and the opposite extreme heavy academic texts such as the ones the author is breaking down in this article. Can anyone recommend any other such middle ground resources on type systems and type system theory?

naasking 9y ago
What do you consider basic? Algorithm W for ML type inference is pretty basic, but powerful too. Or are you looking for something even more expressive?
- bogomipz 9y ago
  What I meant by basic was the description of types provided by a language - usually in an introductory text you might read when learning a new language. I probably didn't articulate that correctly. But I guess what I was referring to as a "middle ground"qa any resources for learning about types systems written in a similar approachable tone like this article. This was another article I read recently that I thought was similarly accessible on the subject of types systems: https://medium.com/@thejameskyle/type-systems-structural-vs-nominal-typing-explained-56511dd969f4 https://medium.com/@thejameskyle/type-systems-structural-vs-... So I guess I'm wondering if there exists such a book or series that might allow one to further their knowledge of type systems without requiring university study.
  - naasking 9y ago
    Types and Programming Languages is the go to book, and it's very accessible despite being a textbook: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/types-and-programming-languages https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/types-and-programming-languag... You can find some earlier PDF drafts online if you Google.
    - alexashka 9y ago
      I have the book and I must warn people, it is not THAT accessible - this is not evening reading for an hour, this is work.
      - naasking 9y ago
        You'll have to define accessible then. Learning anything takes work.
OJFord 9y ago
> Can anyone recommend any other such middle ground resources on type systems and type system theory? I really enjoyed Pierce's Types and Programming Languages. As I recall, he starts with the simple untyped lambda calculus, and builds a motivation for a type system, as well as the type system itself. It then switches to ML (or perhaps OCaml) and shows how features can be built-in to a type system as they're described. I think it's a good fit - I know you said not heavy academic texts, but I don't think it's too heavy, it's at the level of an introductory undergraduate course. (Beware Advanced Topics in ~ by the same author which probably is on the heavier end, I don't know, I haven't braved it yet!)
catshirt 9y ago
funny to me, that HN brings up "Godel, Escher, Bach" in the most general of situations but not when someone's specifically asking for it. enjoy! :)

naasking 9y ago

What do you consider basic? Algorithm W for ML type inference is pretty basic, but powerful too. Or are you looking for something even more expressive?

bogomipz 9y ago
What I meant by basic was the description of types provided by a language - usually in an introductory text you might read when learning a new language. I probably didn't articulate that correctly. But I guess what I was referring to as a "middle ground"qa any resources for learning about types systems written in a similar approachable tone like this article. This was another article I read recently that I thought was similarly accessible on the subject of types systems: https://medium.com/@thejameskyle/type-systems-structural-vs-nominal-typing-explained-56511dd969f4 https://medium.com/@thejameskyle/type-systems-structural-vs-... So I guess I'm wondering if there exists such a book or series that might allow one to further their knowledge of type systems without requiring university study.
- naasking 9y ago
  Types and Programming Languages is the go to book, and it's very accessible despite being a textbook: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/types-and-programming-languages https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/types-and-programming-languag... You can find some earlier PDF drafts online if you Google.
  - alexashka 9y ago
    I have the book and I must warn people, it is not THAT accessible - this is not evening reading for an hour, this is work.
    - naasking 9y ago
      You'll have to define accessible then. Learning anything takes work.

OJFord 9y ago

> Can anyone recommend any other such middle ground resources on type systems and type system theory? I really enjoyed Pierce's Types and Programming Languages. As I recall, he starts with the simple untyped lambda calculus, and builds a motivation for a type system, as well as the type system itself. It then switches to ML (or perhaps OCaml) and shows how features can be built-in to a type system as they're described. I think it's a good fit - I know you said not heavy academic texts, but I don't think it's too heavy, it's at the level of an introductory undergraduate course. (Beware Advanced Topics in ~ by the same author which probably is on the heavier end, I don't know, I haven't braved it yet!)

catshirt 9y ago

funny to me, that HN brings up "Godel, Escher, Bach" in the most general of situations but not when someone's specifically asking for it. enjoy! :)