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Slightly unrelated, but this thread is giving me a serious learning itch. Any book or online class recommendations on lambda calculus, combinators and that whol

Slightly unrelated, but this thread is giving me a serious learning itch. Any book or online class recommendations on lambda calculus, combinators and that whole area of CS? Preferably written for the experienced programmer but very average mathematician.

masklinn 5y ago
If you’re starting from zero this old classic could serve as an appetiser: https://tomstu.art/programming-with-nothing https://tomstu.art/programming-with-nothing
arianvanp 5y ago
I'd say https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ is the ultimate bible on this topic. During my semester we only went through a few of its chapters but it was very enjoyable in my opinion.
- Verdex 5y ago
  Also check out the "sequel" https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/attapl/ https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/attapl/. Pierce wrote the first book whereas this one is a series of articles edited by Pierce. However Advanced Topics covers a few areas that I have been hard pressed to find covered in other places. Row types, dependent types, linear types, etc.
tomstuart 5y ago
I wrote https://computationbook.com/ https://computationbook.com/ for that audience.
arisbe__ 5y ago
An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus by Greg Michaelson really spells out the lambda calculus. Regarding combinators the famous intro is the latter half of Raymond Smullyan's To Mock a Mockingbird.
- smcl 5y ago
  Ha, Greg was my lecturer at Heriot-Watt for a few classes. I revisited his book last year during lockdown and would recommend it.
dgb23 5y ago
This is a classic book (related to lambda calculus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird This is a very cool article on lambda calculus that relates to it: https://dkeenan.com/Lambda/ https://dkeenan.com/Lambda/
- f1refly 5y ago
  I haven't read the book, but the description gives me strong diamond age vibes. Is it somewhat like the described book?
drexlspivey 5y ago
Good workshop/lecture in PyCon by David Beazley https://youtu.be/pkCLMl0e_0k https://youtu.be/pkCLMl0e_0k
Verdex 5y ago
I enjoyed The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages by Simon Peyton Jones. It's how you would implement a Haskell like language (well, Miranda like, but that's more or less the the closed source precursor to haskell) using lambda calculus. It goes through lambda calculus, type checking, combinators and super combinators, and G-machines. [] - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-implementation-of-functional-programming-languages/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-imp...

masklinn 5y ago

If you’re starting from zero this old classic could serve as an appetiser: https://tomstu.art/programming-with-nothing https://tomstu.art/programming-with-nothing

arianvanp 5y ago

I'd say https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ is the ultimate bible on this topic. During my semester we only went through a few of its chapters but it was very enjoyable in my opinion.

Verdex 5y ago
Also check out the "sequel" https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/attapl/ https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/attapl/. Pierce wrote the first book whereas this one is a series of articles edited by Pierce. However Advanced Topics covers a few areas that I have been hard pressed to find covered in other places. Row types, dependent types, linear types, etc.

tomstuart 5y ago

I wrote https://computationbook.com/ https://computationbook.com/ for that audience.

arisbe__ 5y ago

An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus by Greg Michaelson really spells out the lambda calculus. Regarding combinators the famous intro is the latter half of Raymond Smullyan's To Mock a Mockingbird.

smcl 5y ago
Ha, Greg was my lecturer at Heriot-Watt for a few classes. I revisited his book last year during lockdown and would recommend it.

dgb23 5y ago

This is a classic book (related to lambda calculus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird This is a very cool article on lambda calculus that relates to it: https://dkeenan.com/Lambda/ https://dkeenan.com/Lambda/

f1refly 5y ago
I haven't read the book, but the description gives me strong diamond age vibes. Is it somewhat like the described book?

drexlspivey 5y ago

Good workshop/lecture in PyCon by David Beazley https://youtu.be/pkCLMl0e_0k https://youtu.be/pkCLMl0e_0k

Verdex 5y ago

I enjoyed The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages by Simon Peyton Jones. It's how you would implement a Haskell like language (well, Miranda like, but that's more or less the the closed source precursor to haskell) using lambda calculus. It goes through lambda calculus, type checking, combinators and super combinators, and G-machines. [] - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-implementation-of-functional-programming-languages/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-imp...