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Monoid != Monad There seems to be some confusion about which one is confusing. The hardest part of understanding monoids is accepting that yes, that's all the
by gavinpc 12y ago
Monoid != Monad
There seems to be some confusion about which one is confusing. The hardest part of understanding monoids is accepting that yes, that's all there is to it. The fuss is about the other one.
- ZenoArrow 12y agoYes, I know that a monoid and a monad are two different terms, there's no confusion. However, despite monoids being relatively simple, my first introduction to monoids was this... http://gettingsharper.de/2015/03/03/understanding-monoids-using-f/ http://gettingsharper.de/2015/03/03/understanding-monoids-us... ... which I didn't find beginner friendly. YMMV.
- gavinpc 12y agoBut what is the use of understanding monoids, other than as a step towards understanding monads? No criticism... I read all of these submissions. But the ones which only cover monoids [0] leave me wondering, Okay, now what? So I guess the confusion is mine. [0] Other than to say that monads are "very different things".
- ZenoArrow 12y ago> "But what is the use of understanding monoids, other than as a step towards understanding monads?" I'm sorry, but I don't follow. It's just terminology for communicating more efficiently with other programmers (and mathematicians, in this case). They're both a group of ideas with a label. Why would one group only serve to introduce the second group?
- gavinpc 12y agoYou're completely right — I stand corrected. The OP covers practical usages at the end of the piece, as well as in a follow-up piece for that sole purpose. Thanks.