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[Lambda]-calculus and combinators
by J. Roger Hindley · first published 2008
12mentions
8recommended by
10HN commenters
2009–2024first – last mentioned
80% recommend10% neutral10% critical
Why HN recommends it
An accessible introduction to lambda calculus and combinatory logic. It serves as a first text on the subject and is used as a path into Haskell and formal logic, including by undergraduates.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…gave us so much. That's a good suggestion! For folks who are interested in combinators but didn't get what they want from the text: the approachable reference on combinators is Hindley and Sheldon's "Lambda-Calculus and Combinators: an introduction" ... and of course, there is "To mock a mockingbird" by Raymond Smullyan, which introduces the topic through puzzles.
on “Where Did Combinators Come From? Hunting the Story of Moses Schönfinkel” ↗…the Unix Environment Unix Network Programming On Lisp Advanced Compiler Design and Implementation Concepts, Techniques and Models of Computer Programming Design Concepts in Programming Languages Lambda-Calculus and Combinators (the new Hindley/Seldin book, just got it 2 weeks ago) Optimizing Compilers for Modern Architectures Abstract Computing Machines: A Lambda-Calculus Perspective
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite programming books?” ↗Hindley and Seldin's Lambda-Calculus and Combinators: An Introduction is pretty solid. http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1175709/?site...
on “Stop reading this blog and learn something” ↗…the other way around; begin at the low level and work your way up to the abstractions: * Foundations of proofwriting and mathematical thinking: Velleman * Going further into logic: Hindley and Seldin, Lambda-Calculus and Combinators * Apply what you learned just learned: Sussman and Abelson, SICP * Getting serious: Awodey, Category theory * You're there: Haskell
on “Ask HN: How to self-learn math?” ↗…good reference text, but in my opinion is not a good introductory text. For a good introduction, I would recommend J. Roger Hindley's introduction to the lambda calculus and combinatory logic entitled "Lambda-Calculus and Combinators: An Introduction". It includes some interesting info on SKI combinator calculus in addition to the lambda calculus.
on “The Impact of the Lambda Calculus (1997) [pdf]” ↗I’m learning Haskell right now and had the same question until I found Hindley’s Lambda-Calculus and Combinators: an Introduction book. Many here are recommending Julia but I’ve used Julia enough now to conclude that it isn’t as mature as Haskell and can be frustrating at times. Haskell, when it’s foundations and…
on “Ask HN: Which general programming language is good for learning/exploring math?” ↗The only book I found helpful in learning functional programming was Lambda calculus and combinators by Hindley. Although you can find it online for free it’s worth buying. What I discovered was that books on Haskell simply weren’t enough to understand the language, you really do need to understand lambda…
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations to learn functional programming” ↗I read Lambda-Calculus and Combinators: An Introduction by J Roger Hindley as an undergraduate and found it was very accessible.
on “A little closer to finding what became Moses Schönfinkel (2021)” ↗…Introduction to Lambda Calculi for Computer Scientists"[1] to be a good intro to these concepts. For those who want to go further, books by Henk Barendregt[2] are widely considered to be a reference to lambda-calculus and combinators. Fresh out of college I was really into lambda calculus and combinators, and wrote a pretty similar blog post to this article, maybe just a bit simpler: https://log.kv.io/post/2008/03/02/ski-calculus-in-haskell-sh...…
on “Fun with Combinators” ↗For the lambda calculus and the combinatory logic see Hindley and Seldin's "Lambda Calculus and Combinators", published this year, I think. Hindley and Selding have been doing LC since goodness knows when, and you will see their names all over papers and texts. The book I have in mind is very recent and has…
on “Lazy Partial Evaluation” ↗…functions and there is a LABELS form that behaves in a similar way. Lambda calculus has neither of these. One resource that describes recursive function systems of the kind I'm thinking of is the book "Lambda-Calculus and Combinators, an Introduction" by Hindley and Seldin (especially chapter 4).
on “The Idea of Lisp” ↗> I'd recommend learning the lambda calculus instead Not to mention, it'll be hard to understand what's going on here without some peevious experience with lambda calculus and combinators (SKI, etc)
on “Tree Calculus” ↗