Y combinator codex (2021) | Hacker News Reader

Y combinator codex (2021)

phoe.github.io

Curiously, in the pure lambda calculus with Church numerals, the factorial function doesn't need recursion, since Church numerals already act like iterators: fac = λn.λf.n(λf.λn.n(f(λf.λx.n f(f x))))(λx.f)(λx.x) or as a lambda diagram:

    ┬────────────────
    ┼─────────────┬──
    │ ──┬──────── ┼ ┬
    │ ┬─┼─┬────── │ │
    │ │ │ ┼─┬─┬── │ │
    │ │ │ ┼─┼─┼─┬ │ │
    │ │ │ └─┤ ├─┘ │ │
    │ │ │   ├─┘   │ │
    │ │ ├───┘     │ │
    │ ├─┘         │ │
    └─┤           │ │
      └───────────┤ │
                  └─┘

Author here. Didn't expect this one on HN tonight, so AMA I guess.

Preserve it well and you might one day really confuse an archeologist.

The original is hanging somewhere in a university in Germany. They'll take decent care of it, I presume.

how did it end up there?

AFAIR it was sent there after an auction during the online European Lisp Symposium 2021.

Are quote atom lambda eq car cdr label cons cond from any particular interpreter? Was their arrangement chosen mostly for aesthetic reasons, or is there something else to it?

https://phoe.github.io/img/closeup3-min.jpg

https://paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html

Note that lambda and label are rightmost, just as they are in the article itself.

Beautiful!

Any plans on selling prints again (or perhaps the site you mentioned for the '21 Lisp conference still active)?

(edit to add: I realize this is handcrafted art, was wondering if you have high-res scans you'd consider selling as prints)

Oh goodness. If you really want one, I could produce some. Poke me at phoe@disroot.org and we'll arrange for that.

(Yes, I do have a scan!)

Amazing work, not sure how I missed that!

Thanks. I didn't really promote this outside #commonlisp on IRC and Hacker News (linked by dang earlier).

Incredible paper! Can you help me make something similar for the ACPUL programming language?

Ping me at phoe@disroot.org and let's get to it!

Congrats on finding time! Maybe this will push me to get back to my nib stash, ha.

Got any experience with adapting fountain pen inks for calligraphy?

Not really. I used Pilot Parallel pens exclusively for doing this piece, so I avoided most of the nib problems (and experience) myself.

Show HN: The Y Combinator Codex - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27000072 - April 2021 (2 comments)

It's beautiful, but isn't a codex a book? I thought that's what separates them from scrolls.

It can be an official (ahem) list.

Indeed the more original meaning.

Ref: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority...

Yes, it should be a book. I didn't change the original title of emacsomancer's work; his original typeset image could have easily made it into a book, whereas my version suffers from some size inflation.

Nice to see that yin-yang of eval/apply floating in a sea of King James 1611

What made you want to do this?

The inspiration is linked in the article - I saw emacsomancer's machine-typeset Y Combinator Codex and I thought, "oh, I'll show you the Y Combinator Codex". The rest is about two weeks of intermittent calligraphic work.

Next time I'm in Kraków I'd like to buy you a beer, sir.

Sure! (A non-alcoholic one, please.)

this is amazing work, looks hand done. can't imagine the time that goes into something like this, just figuring out how to compose it... and not making mistakes?!

very cool

An important part of doing calligraphy (or any other work where Ctrl+Z is not an option) is improvising of how to cover things up so that such mistakes become invisible.

I have actually made a huge mistake in the original, and then managed to cover it up. (Hint: the metallic paint I used is highly opaque.)

Should sell mostly prints but some originals on Etsy.

I have no time nor will to make this a part-time job. Burnout is a real thing, hence I don't want to turn all of my hobbies into money-making machines.

Very nice!

A regrettable name. Everyone who sees it will assume that it's something like 'a startup self-help book'.

I've attempted to disambiguate it with a s/C/c/g. That's too subtle for most first glances, but I think most HN readers will understand it on a second or third look.

Combinators are always welcome on HN!

Maybe we might want to add something like "- Lisp calligraphy piece" to the end of the title, if this should be an exception to the keep-the-original-title rule.

I think the existing title is great because it's intriguing and doesn't fully explain itself. Not everything should!

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

Omega combinators would have made for better growth hacking.

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