4 ms·

To Dissect a Mockingbird: A Graphical Notation for the Lambda Calculus (1996)

18 points by sanroot99 4y ago

anyfoo 4y ago
That's a great way of visualizing lambda calculus. dang, can we fix the many many typos in the submission title? Or probably just shorten the original title a bit: "To Dissect a Mockingbird: A Graphical Notation for Lambda Calculus" would work.
mkl 4y ago
There's no need to make up a new title (with three separate spelling mistakes). The actual article title is "To Dissect a Mockingbird: A Graphical Notation for the Lambda Calculus with Animated Reduction" and the subtitle "A Graphical Notation for the Lambda Calculus with Animated Reduction" is clear and fits inside HN's length limit. You may still be within the editing window to fix it.
- dang 4y ago
  Changed now. Thanks! Submitted title was 'Lamda calculas using visual song maps of birdss'
Dig1t 4y ago
This is awesome. I could already see how he was setting up the bird analogy when he started talking about the idiot bird, very interesting. My university didn't teach anything remotely related to lambda calculus, I really wish more schools taught this stuff. It's not directly useful in today's engineering workplace, but I think it's just so fascinating and having a broader understanding of computation makes for more well-rounded programmers.
jgwil2 4y ago
See also: https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/logic.html https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/logic.html
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31334617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31334617 (I was just looking it up because I had misrecalled that discussion as being on Keenan's paper) And the origin of the bird-themed combinators for both: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird To Mock a Mockingbird by Smullyan (on my shelf to read, but not yet read)
Jtsummers 4y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1164391 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1164391 - March 3, 2010 (6 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410928 - Dec 31, 2011 (7 comments, 5 of them about the two prior submissions and whether it's worth posting a link to the two prior submissions when one had no comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7684210 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7684210 - May 2, 2014 (7 comments, more useful ones) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21923737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21923737 - Dec 31, 2019 (29 comments)

18 points by sanroot99 4y ago

That's a great way of visualizing lambda calculus. dang, can we fix the many many typos in the submission title? Or probably just shorten the original title a bit: "To Dissect a Mockingbird: A Graphical Notation for Lambda Calculus" would work.

mkl 4y ago

There's no need to make up a new title (with three separate spelling mistakes). The actual article title is "To Dissect a Mockingbird: A Graphical Notation for the Lambda Calculus with Animated Reduction" and the subtitle "A Graphical Notation for the Lambda Calculus with Animated Reduction" is clear and fits inside HN's length limit. You may still be within the editing window to fix it.

dang 4y ago
Changed now. Thanks! Submitted title was 'Lamda calculas using visual song maps of birdss'

Dig1t 4y ago

This is awesome. I could already see how he was setting up the bird analogy when he started talking about the idiot bird, very interesting. My university didn't teach anything remotely related to lambda calculus, I really wish more schools taught this stuff. It's not directly useful in today's engineering workplace, but I think it's just so fascinating and having a broader understanding of computation makes for more well-rounded programmers.

jgwil2 4y ago

See also: https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/logic.html https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/logic.html

Jtsummers 4y ago
Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31334617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31334617 (I was just looking it up because I had misrecalled that discussion as being on Keenan's paper) And the origin of the bird-themed combinators for both: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird To Mock a Mockingbird by Smullyan (on my shelf to read, but not yet read)

Jtsummers 4y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1164391 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1164391 - March 3, 2010 (6 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410928 - Dec 31, 2011 (7 comments, 5 of them about the two prior submissions and whether it's worth posting a link to the two prior submissions when one had no comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7684210 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7684210 - May 2, 2014 (7 comments, more useful ones) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21923737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21923737 - Dec 31, 2019 (29 comments)