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Functional Programming For Dummies
book

Functional Programming For Dummies

by John Paul Mueller
February 2019
Intermediate to advanced
320 pages
8h 28m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Functional Programming For Dummies

Chapter 5

Understanding the Role of Lambda Calculus

IN THIS CHAPTER

Check Understanding the need for lambda calculus

Check Using lambda calculus to perform useful work

Check Developing lambda calculus functions

Mention the word calculus and some people automatically assume that the topic is hard or difficult to understand. Add a Greek letter, such as λ (lambda), in front of it and it must be so terribly hard that only geniuses need apply. Of course, using correct terminology is important when discussing a topic for which confusion reigns. The truth is, though, that you’ve probably used lambda calculus at some point if you’ve worked with other languages that support first-class functions such as C or JavaScript. Often, the creators of these languages make things simple by using more approachable terms. This chapter helps you through some of the terms involved in lambda calculus while also helping you understand the use of it. The big takeaway from this chapter should be that lambda calculus really isn’t hard; you’ve likely seen it in a number of places before.

Remember The focus of this chapter is to demonstrate ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119527503Purchase book