Thursday, February 2, 2012

Algebraic Data Types

Reading this incredibly insightful article The Algebra of Data, and the Calculus of Mutation finally drove home the point to me why FP folks are so in love with their Algebraic Data Types: they connect wonderfully with very old (think B.C.) mathematical ideas - that every one of us has learned in school. The question is still whether that does make them good for programming. (HT Daniel)
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4 comments:

  1. John ShuttFri Feb 03, 03:23:00 AM GMT+1

    I still want the algebraic without the data types. And am still pondering how to do that; something to do with algebraic structures being overlain on things, while types underlie them, I think. I'm also thinking it might be related to some sort of conceptual flaw in the programming notion of symbol.

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  2. dmbarbourFri Feb 03, 05:42:00 AM GMT+1

    That's the best explanation I've seen on the subject.

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  3. Manuel SimoniFri Feb 03, 02:18:00 PM GMT+1

    Correct link for John's comment: Where do types come from?

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  4. John ShuttFri Feb 03, 02:40:00 PM GMT+1

    Thanks for the corrected link.

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