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This is a really fun and interesting book to read, assuming you can find a copy and read Russian. For additional background on the book, the authors and an ear

This is a really fun and interesting book to read, assuming you can find a copy and read Russian. For additional background on the book, the authors and an earlier work by them, check out an interview them here: Part 1: https://geek-week.imtqy.com/articles/en490092/index.html https://geek-week.imtqy.com/articles/en490092/index.html Part 2: https://geek-week.imtqy.com/articles/en490918/index.html https://geek-week.imtqy.com/articles/en490918/index.html

Jtsummers 5y ago
Since you (apparently) can read it, page 15 frame 12 of the book (in the original link, he's "cutting" a potato with the knife's handle). Is that lambda calculus? My understanding is that "К" in Cyrillic is the same "K" sound as in the Latin alphabet, but it looks like a typical lambda calculus expression: λ x . x (identity function). And it makes sense, cutting a potato with the handle leaves it unchanged. I'm just curious why the symbol К is used (visual similarity to λ?) and wondering if there are other similar lambda calculus jokes or references in the book.
- pvg 5y ago
  It's just the khhh sound of scraping the potato with the handle. Sort of like the POW! in an English language comic is not about exponentiation.
  - Jtsummers 5y ago
    I also thought about that, and thought it might be the case. It just amused me that it worked both ways (if you take the К as an alternative to λ) and I was curious if it was anywhere else in the book. And in an English language comic about math I could see POW (or similar) being used in both ways, as both the conventional sound sense and in a joking math sense (in some context). Since this is a comic about computers, the lambda calculus interpretation (even as a throwaway joke that would go over the reader's head) seemed plausible.
    - pvg 5y ago
      Right but I think the typography/scan quality and not being able to read the rest of the text for context is leading you astray here - this book is roughly at the level of the more basic Usborne books. It's a long, long way from mentioning lambda calculus.

Jtsummers 5y ago

Since you (apparently) can read it, page 15 frame 12 of the book (in the original link, he's "cutting" a potato with the knife's handle). Is that lambda calculus? My understanding is that "К" in Cyrillic is the same "K" sound as in the Latin alphabet, but it looks like a typical lambda calculus expression: λ x . x (identity function). And it makes sense, cutting a potato with the handle leaves it unchanged. I'm just curious why the symbol К is used (visual similarity to λ?) and wondering if there are other similar lambda calculus jokes or references in the book.

pvg 5y ago
It's just the khhh sound of scraping the potato with the handle. Sort of like the POW! in an English language comic is not about exponentiation.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  I also thought about that, and thought it might be the case. It just amused me that it worked both ways (if you take the К as an alternative to λ) and I was curious if it was anywhere else in the book. And in an English language comic about math I could see POW (or similar) being used in both ways, as both the conventional sound sense and in a joking math sense (in some context). Since this is a comic about computers, the lambda calculus interpretation (even as a throwaway joke that would go over the reader's head) seemed plausible.
  - pvg 5y ago
    Right but I think the typography/scan quality and not being able to read the rest of the text for context is leading you astray here - this book is roughly at the level of the more basic Usborne books. It's a long, long way from mentioning lambda calculus.