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David Beazley - Lambda Calculus from the Ground Up - PyCon 2019

PyCon 2019 · tutorial · Watch on YouTube

Computability & complexity theoryFunctional programmingPython, Ruby & scripting languages

What it is

David Beazley's PyCon 2019 tutorial derives the lambda calculus from the ground up in Python, using only single-argument functions. He builds booleans, numerals and more with no other language features.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN calls it a brilliant, mind-bending introduction to lambda calculus for programmers.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2021

What HN commenters said

  1. “Great tutorial if you've never seen lambda calculus before, definitely brain twister.”

    Derives lambda calculus from scratch in Python

    ehsankia, 2019-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Python built-ins worth learning”

  2. “If you want your mind to blow up I recommend watching this year's”

    Mind-blowing lambda calculus PyCon talk

    sethgecko, 2019-08 · Strong recommendation · in “One-lined Python”

  3. “David Beazley gives a brilliant introduction to lambda calculus here”

    Brilliant intro to lambda calculus for Python users

    globular-toast, 2021-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Lambda Calculus Examples (2009) [pdf]”

  4. “This talk by David Beazley (Lambda Calculus from the Ground Up) might be useful”

    Explains booleans and numerals in lambda calculus

    avador, 2020-08 · Recommendation · in “A circuit-like notation for lambda calculus (2015)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: lambda calculus, python, functional programming, david beazley, pycon

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