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I see two sides: the numericals and the algebraists.

I've talked with people who also see these two sides but call them differently.

As I see it, this book is closer to the algebraists side. Thus, you probably lean closer to the nuemerical side.

I also like to think about it as the Turing perspective (numerical, algorithmic) and the Chruch outlook, which is more algebraic-symbolic.

At the end of the day, it's both "contrasting" viewpoints coming together that truly animates the science of computing.



Some people prefer not to commingle the functional, lambda-calculus part of a language with the parts that do side effects. It seems they believe in the separation of Church and state. --Guy Steele


Thank you. One of the funniest things I've ever read.


The part about the two mindsets sounds vaguely familiar. Is there an article or blog post that lays this out in more detail?


A good paper describing functional programming and also talks about the differences between these two mindsets is "Conception, Evolution, and Application of Functional Programming Languages" by Paul Hudak (1989). You can find a copy at https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse583/00wi/p359-h....


This might be what you're thinking of:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better


The Lambda tribe and the machine tribe

edit: typo




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