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Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

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271–280 of 319 posts

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#271
post #109

The difficulty in conceiving of a constant functions seems similar to the difficulty in recognizing that > if 4 is prime then all numbers are prime Is a true theorem (and things along these lines)

>> if 4 is prime then all numbers are prime

>Is a true theorem (and things along these lines)

Saying "4 is prime" "primes are non-composite, ..." reduces to error; at least one of these premises is false.

?

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#272
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the insight that I was sharing is that it matters in this case, as many people would not realize that it is relevant here.

You think 'a lot of things that take time are easier when you have the means to do whatever you want with your time' is something that eludes most people? About anything much, really, be it child rearing or laundry? I think that is very, very unlikely.

My experience as a parent and in talking to other parents says yes, it eludes most anyone I ever talk to about it.

Also the 33 point on the post tell me at least 33 more people found it interesting than did not.

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#273
post #2

>\lambda x.\, 6 was also surprisingly difficult for him to guess (though he did get it right eventually). I think he was just stuck on the idea of the function doing something arithmetical to the input, and was having trouble coming up with some sort of arithmetic procedure which would result in 6 no matter what you put in! It simply hadn’t occurred to him that the machine might not care about the input. (Interesting…

[deleted]

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#274
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think 'a lot of things that take time are easier when you have the means to do whatever you want with your time' is something that eludes most people? About anything much, really, be it child rearing or laundry? I think that is very, very unlikely.

My experience as a parent and in talking to other parents says yes, it eludes most anyone I ever talk to about it. Also the 33 point on the post tell me at least 33 more people found it interesting than did not.

[deleted]

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#275
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think 'a lot of things that take time are easier when you have the means to do whatever you want with your time' is something that eludes most people? About anything much, really, be it child rearing or laundry? I think that is very, very unlikely.

My experience as a parent and in talking to other parents says yes, it eludes most anyone I ever talk to about it. Also the 33 point on the post tell me at least 33 more people found it interesting than did not.

It could well be that you're right and noticing that not having to go to work frees up a lot of time is indeed a counterintuitive and valuable lifehack. It could also be that I'm right and it's an observation made of pure triteonium.

I'm sure we can both agree, though, that the gold standard for statistical significance is 30 Helens. 33 HN users is nowhere close to 30 Helens.

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And it gets harder with each kid, at least for me. That is the most depressing thing I've read in a good while.

Yeah, but I find it's true. I think that's why the first born tends to be, at least historically, the most important child. Because parents spend the most focused attention on them. If it feels better though, as the youngest of three children, I find I was allowed to wander a bit more, and that has actually proved useful.

Then why bother if you're not even trying

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#277
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your comment seems confused in exactly the same way as coldtea's. How are you imagining turning input 20 into output 6 without acting on the input? Easily: f(x) = 20 No action on the input -- discarding the input is not an intuitive action for a 6-year old that just got a handful of of ax+k and x k + n style examples. > Nobody ever complained that the problem with Procrustes was that he didn't do anything to the gu…

> f(x) = 6 Fixed, for the sake of corresponding more exactly with the challenge. Not that it wasn't clear what you meant :)

Yep, that!

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#278
post #2

>\lambda x.\, 6 was also surprisingly difficult for him to guess (though he did get it right eventually). I think he was just stuck on the idea of the function doing something arithmetical to the input, and was having trouble coming up with some sort of arithmetic procedure which would result in 6 no matter what you put in! It simply hadn’t occurred to him that the machine might not care about the input. (Interesting…

What I find surprising is how easy it is to understand functions as being made up of other functions (+), as opposed to functions that are not (constant functions).

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economies of scale. The kids work together, play together, teach each other, and parents facilitate (often leading to interesting conversations like the one in the article). It's actually probably a little easier than having 5.

A coworker keeps telling me (I'm a parent of one, and intend to stay that way) that having a big family like his is easier, since the older kids can take care of the younger kids. Which sounds totally plausible and correct, 'cept it'll take you awhile to get up to that sort of economy of scale :P

How fun that must be to take care of siblings, wow, youth enjoyed for sure.

Re: Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming

#280
I am surprised. Growing up in the 80s in France, this was a classic exercise for 7/8 year olds. I remember doing it a million times in school. They presented the problem as 2 columns with numbers on the left and on the right, and a box at the top, which we also called the "machine". It had a little arrow as well to show which way the numbers would go through the machine. The exercise was either "find what the machine does" or "guess the input" or "guess the output", sometimes combined together.
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