Programming with Categories - Lecture 0

An introduction to a course exploring how category theory can be used to write elegant and maintainable code using Haskell.

Video lectures at MIT. See brendanfong.com/programmingcats.html Lecturers: Brendan Fong, Bartosz Milewski, David Spivak Summary: In this course we explain how category theory—a branch of mathematics known for its ability to organize the key abstractions that structure much of the mathematical universe—has become useful for writing elegant and maintainable code. In particular, we'll use examples from the Haskell programming language to motivate category-theoretic constructs, and then explain these constructs from a more abstract and inclusive viewpoint. Hands-on programming exercises will be used to demonstrate categorical ideas like "the universal property of products" in working Haskell code. We will assume no background knowledge on behalf of the student, starting from scratch on both the programming and mathematics. (Video: Paolo Perrone.)