Comment by Dylan16807
1 month ago
> If you actually read the article
Needless.
> The insights one can gain from this pure math definition are still very much useful for real world programming tough (e.g. memoization), you just have to be careful about the slightly different definitions/implementations.
I agree completely here. But I think that undermines some of the earlier claims. The math definition only serves as inspiration, we're not using the math definition when we memoize. And the important part you need for that inspiration is a lot narrower than full equivalence.
> And the important part you need for that inspiration is a lot narrower than full equivalence.
The blogpost is discussing exactly what you gain (and lose) when arrays and functions fit this strict definition, allowing a unification of the syntax and possible compiler optimizations. I think the point they're making is exactly that having only a loose equivalence between arrays and functions might be a programming status quo that could be holding us back from a higher level abstraction.
> I think the point they're making is exactly that having only a loose equivalence between arrays and functions might be a programming status quo that could be holding us back from a higher level abstraction.
Maybe. I'll sit here ready for those insightful uses of stricter connections.
But the memoization example is very loose, and memoization is what I was replying to.