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A Functional Introduction To Computer Science

by debanjan16 on 7/2/23, 6:14 AM with 34 comments

• by cubefox on 7/2/23, 11:02 AM

  This is a very mathematically inspired introduction, as they say in the initial chapter.

  What I would like to see is a logical introduction to computer science, or at least theoretical computer science.

  Start with combinational logic [1], i.e. with Boolean circuits. They are both conceptually simple and relatively close to physical transistors, unlike any functional / mathematical approach. Then move on to sequential logic[2] which allows the introduction of memory/states, e.g. via flip-flops. From this, more complex circuits and even a primitive GOTO language would be introduced. What I would be interested in is how these circuits relate to the traditional models of computation, i.e. finite state machines, pushdown automatons and Turing machines. Not very cleanly, I suspect.

  [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combinational_logic

  [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequential_logic

• by wk_end on 7/2/23, 2:26 PM

  Don't miss Part II [0], which (not to discount the quality of Part I) is much less elementary and much more interesting.

  [0] https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~plragde/flane/FICS2/

• by tralarpa on 7/2/23, 9:47 AM

  Oh, they are using Racket. I really love that language. I think it's also great that they explain how to work with structures, instead of going the "everything is a list" aproach (the latter is, in my opinion, better suited for advanced students).

  Unfortunately, I haven't managed yet to integrate Racket into my daily work. The last time I tried to use it, the resulting (manually optimized) compiled code was as slow as an unoptimized python solution and 10x slower than a manually optimized Java version.

• by asicsp on 7/2/23, 10:12 AM

  See also "Teach yourself Computer Science functionally"

  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36312603 (315 points | 18 days ago | 99 comments)

• by genericuser256 on 7/2/23, 12:58 PM

  This was a really fantastic course, good intro to the principles of recursion and fundamentals of CS

• by kingkongjaffa on 7/2/23, 10:26 AM

  How to Design Programs is also an intro to programming using Racket as the teaching language https://htdp.org/2023-5-12/Book/index.html

• by s-zeng on 7/2/23, 12:15 PM

  Ragde is an excellent CS prof. I really enjoyed the functional approach Waterloo takes in first year CS, especially in the optional more advanced version of the course where they go a lot deeper into the math connections and interpreters

• by amelius on 7/2/23, 1:01 PM

  Can this be considered a modern version of SICP?

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

• by josefrichter on 7/2/23, 8:50 AM

  Oh God, wish I had this when I first started.

• by yungporko on 7/2/23, 8:24 AM

  this seems like a great resource, thanks for posting.