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One thing that I think is true (and maybe this is what Ono-Sendai meant) is that compared to many languages, Haskell's syntax is relatively close to the notatio
by titanomachy 12y ago
One thing that I think is true (and maybe this is what Ono-Sendai meant) is that compared to many languages, Haskell's syntax is relatively close to the notation used by mathematicians. And notation can strongly influence the way we think about things.
I was introduced to programming before abstract algebra, and when I took my first algebra class the comparison to Haskell was inevitable. Actually it turned out to be quite helpful: strongly-typed functional programming can be a good supplement to learning algebra.
- Ono-Sendai 12y agoWell, for example, Haskell obviously makes heavy use of functions, which are from maths. Procedures, on the other hand, aren't. In maths, you often write something like let x = ... An imperative language statement like x = x + 1; isn't something you see in maths, that is not a valid equation.
- agos 12y agoit's very similar to Recurrence Equations, minus the time indication (the absence of which is the cause for a number of bugs).