Chapter 5
Understanding the Role of Lambda Calculus
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the need for lambda calculus
Using lambda calculus to perform useful work
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.
The focus of this chapter is to demonstrate ...
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