4 ms·

One of the answers towards the bottom linked to an incredibly interesting read on programming using nothing but Procs[1]. I found it to be incredibly fascinatin

by bilalq 12y ago

One of the answers towards the bottom linked to an incredibly interesting read on programming using nothing but Procs[1]. I found it to be incredibly fascinating, and it even goes into implementing FizzBuzz under these constraints. [1]: http://codon.com/programming-with-nothing http://codon.com/programming-with-nothing

jacquesm 12y ago
If you liked that you'll love this: http://matt.might.net/articles/compiling-up-to-lambda-calculus/ http://matt.might.net/articles/compiling-up-to-lambda-calcul... and http://matt.might.net/articles/implementing-a-programming-language/ http://matt.might.net/articles/implementing-a-programming-la...
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  Related: What if you started with no OS? http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9x15g/programming_thought_experiment_stuck_in_a_room/c0ewj2c http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9x15g/programmi... Includes some really great links to going from (DOS) echo to a working COM executable: http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-discuss/2011-April/001156.html http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-discuss/2011-Apr...
- bilalq 12y ago
  Thanks for the links. I really regret that I didn't pursue topics like this while in school, but I suppose its never too late to keep on learning.
  - SixSigma 12y ago
    You sound like you're resigned to learning rather than enthused. How old are you ? (although that's rhetorical) I'm 45 and I still read a textbook a month. There does come a time when young that you can say "finally, no more education!" What I have found when revisiting topics is that my life experience contributes into the subject for me rather than merely being a set of facts & analogies from someone else. I only recently read The Annotated Turing by Petzold, that was the kind of eye opener that would have looked far to dry a subject to me years ago. Time has given me the ability to peek through Turing's eyes and imagine the sociological and pedagogical environment he was operating in which really adds to the material.
    - bilalq 12y ago
      Ah, I didn't intend to come off that way. In fact, I've only been out of school for a year now. What I was really getting at was that while in school, it's easy to allocate time to learning, since enrolling in a course effectively locks you into a schedule. That, and you have the benefit of having peers and teachers with whom you can discuss any thoughts or questions that come up. As far as mathematics go, I took the bare minimum classes that were required for a CS degree: Calc 1 & 2, Linear Algebra, & Discrete Mathematics/Structures. Of course, I can go through text books and online courses on my own at this point, but dedicating regular time for this seems to be the hardest part.
      - SixSigma 12y ago
        Ah but the beauty is that you can read for pleasure knowing that you won't have an exam at the end and trying to work out what your professor thinks is important. If you want to enjoy linear algebra without the pressure of doing any, I can heartily recommend MIT's open coursewear videos featruring Gilbert Strang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010BC51F8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010... In fact all the MIT stuff I have tried is fun to watch
timtadh 12y ago
That blog post is basically explaining untyped Lambda Calculus and Church Numerals with the ruby lambda syntax. If you liked that you maybe interested in the real thing. The best introduction I know is a really great book on Type Theory called: "Types and Programming Languages." It is great because after Lambda Calculus the author shows how to build really useful programming languages and type systems using the lambda calculus formalism. Definitely a must read if you are interested in understanding the underpinning of modern type systems. [1] http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/
- bilalq 12y ago
  Yeah, it mentions that at the bottom of the post. I must confess that I've never heard of Church encoding before, but I'll be reading more about it. Thanks for the book recommendation as well.
- acjohnson55 12y ago
  I read that book years ago in a Theory of Programming Languages. I recall learning a lot from the process, but I'm probably due for a refresher, now that I'm building more things in Scala and trying to learn me a Haskell for great good.

by bilalq 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

If you liked that you'll love this: http://matt.might.net/articles/compiling-up-to-lambda-calculus/ http://matt.might.net/articles/compiling-up-to-lambda-calcul... and http://matt.might.net/articles/implementing-a-programming-language/ http://matt.might.net/articles/implementing-a-programming-la...

voltagex_ 12y ago
Related: What if you started with no OS? http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9x15g/programming_thought_experiment_stuck_in_a_room/c0ewj2c http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9x15g/programmi... Includes some really great links to going from (DOS) echo to a working COM executable: http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-discuss/2011-April/001156.html http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-discuss/2011-Apr...
bilalq 12y ago
Thanks for the links. I really regret that I didn't pursue topics like this while in school, but I suppose its never too late to keep on learning.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  You sound like you're resigned to learning rather than enthused. How old are you ? (although that's rhetorical) I'm 45 and I still read a textbook a month. There does come a time when young that you can say "finally, no more education!" What I have found when revisiting topics is that my life experience contributes into the subject for me rather than merely being a set of facts & analogies from someone else. I only recently read The Annotated Turing by Petzold, that was the kind of eye opener that would have looked far to dry a subject to me years ago. Time has given me the ability to peek through Turing's eyes and imagine the sociological and pedagogical environment he was operating in which really adds to the material.
  - bilalq 12y ago
    Ah, I didn't intend to come off that way. In fact, I've only been out of school for a year now. What I was really getting at was that while in school, it's easy to allocate time to learning, since enrolling in a course effectively locks you into a schedule. That, and you have the benefit of having peers and teachers with whom you can discuss any thoughts or questions that come up. As far as mathematics go, I took the bare minimum classes that were required for a CS degree: Calc 1 & 2, Linear Algebra, & Discrete Mathematics/Structures. Of course, I can go through text books and online courses on my own at this point, but dedicating regular time for this seems to be the hardest part.
    - SixSigma 12y ago
      Ah but the beauty is that you can read for pleasure knowing that you won't have an exam at the end and trying to work out what your professor thinks is important. If you want to enjoy linear algebra without the pressure of doing any, I can heartily recommend MIT's open coursewear videos featruring Gilbert Strang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010BC51F8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010... In fact all the MIT stuff I have tried is fun to watch

timtadh 12y ago

That blog post is basically explaining untyped Lambda Calculus and Church Numerals with the ruby lambda syntax. If you liked that you maybe interested in the real thing. The best introduction I know is a really great book on Type Theory called: "Types and Programming Languages." It is great because after Lambda Calculus the author shows how to build really useful programming languages and type systems using the lambda calculus formalism. Definitely a must read if you are interested in understanding the underpinning of modern type systems. [1] http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/

bilalq 12y ago
Yeah, it mentions that at the bottom of the post. I must confess that I've never heard of Church encoding before, but I'll be reading more about it. Thanks for the book recommendation as well.
acjohnson55 12y ago
I read that book years ago in a Theory of Programming Languages. I recall learning a lot from the process, but I'm probably due for a refresher, now that I'm building more things in Scala and trying to learn me a Haskell for great good.