> No, you’re trying to teach them with the same kind of tool that I call ‘clumsy and unsophisticated’ in the article.
Despite the vitriol you've received, I think I understand what you're trying to say here. I think you want a higher level programming language. And not merely a successor to the latest zeitgeist, but essentially what C was to punch tape. That is, binary might be fundamental to computation, but it isn't fundamental to the ergonomics of programming. So the question is, is it possible to somehow abstract programming to an higher level?
pg wrote that all other language have evolved towards lisp. I think the trend is a special case of a trend towards functional programming. So imho, whatever comes next (given there is a next) will have to (for lack of a better word, ) supersede lambda calculus.
You seem to be the only person in this thread who has grasped this idea; though instinctively to me it feels another formalism like LC is the wrong way to go.
I'm new to programming, so I don't have much street cred. But I've heard others call LC "the assembly language of math"[1]. And I think functionals are really neat. So imho, I suspect LC's more than a formalism. But it drives me up the wall that it doesn't have an elegant subtraction analog. This leads me to believe there must be something better.
The answer sure can't be the Apple thing you mentioned. I imagine it's a just a gui, a kludge. But if not LC, then what do you think?
Despite the vitriol you've received, I think I understand what you're trying to say here. I think you want a higher level programming language. And not merely a successor to the latest zeitgeist, but essentially what C was to punch tape. That is, binary might be fundamental to computation, but it isn't fundamental to the ergonomics of programming. So the question is, is it possible to somehow abstract programming to an higher level?
pg wrote that all other language have evolved towards lisp. I think the trend is a special case of a trend towards functional programming. So imho, whatever comes next (given there is a next) will have to (for lack of a better word, ) supersede lambda calculus.