Re:A circuit-like notation for lambda calculus (2015)
by uryga on Monday August 17, 2020 @09:03PM
(#24194222)
i guess it depends on how familiar you are with the lambda calculus and the various "tricks" for representing data as lambdas.
from a quick look at the relevant section, it seems to be using [Scott-encoded natural numbers](https://fermat.github.io/document/talks/lam.pdf). i think describing it as "leaving S and Z up to some implementation" sells it short! the (quite beautiful) idea is roughly that you represent a number by a [fold/reduce]-like function that'll iterate the function you pass it (`s`) the appropriate amount of times, starting from an initial value (`z`).
from a quick look at the relevant section, it seems to be using [Scott-encoded natural numbers](https://fermat.github.io/document/talks/lam.pdf). i think describing it as "leaving S and Z up to some implementation" sells it short! the (quite beautiful) idea is roughly that you represent a number by a [fold/reduce]-like function that'll iterate the function you pass it (`s`) the appropriate amount of times, starting from an initial value (`z`).