
   Ruby 1.9 and Lambda Calculus  - nickb
http://53cr.com/blog/2008/10/ruby-19-and-lambda-calculus/
======
KirinDave
> The “->” is supposed to be read as a lambda (λ), since relying on unicode
> characters in code is generally bad news.

Interesting. Why? Personally I would radically prefer the λ and any competent
editor could make it a single keystroke if it doesn't already.

I really wish we did use more unicode in our source code. "≠", for example, is
much clearer to me than "!=".

~~~
etal
Qi uses /. as lambda; that's pretty close. I like Haskell's decisions as well.

There's also the literate programming route: enter the code as ASCII, then run
it through a processor to generate a prettier document for reading.

------
pavelludiq

        ->(f){f.(3)}.(->(x){x+2})
    

vs

    
    
        (lambda f: f(3))(lambda x: x+2)
    

the first one(ruby) requires me to press the shift key 6 times, the python
version only 2, but on the other hand i have to write "lambda" twice. I say
they are even :)

~~~
Freaky
Except the Ruby version won't run away and cry if you try to do anything even
slightly more complex in it. Also you can still type "lambda" if you really
want to.

~~~
pavelludiq
ok, how about this one:

    
    
        ((lambda (f) (f 3))(lambda (x) (+ x 2)))

~~~
etal
All the visual appeal of oatmeal with fingernail clippings mixed in.

Actually, I do prefer ASCII for anything that isn't already a convention in
math -- parens to group expressions, curly braces for sets, etc.

