Category Theory in Life - Eugenia Cheng
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as an accessible, gentle introduction that makes category theory feel approachable and shows its analogy-making power.
What it is
Eugenia Cheng gives the opening keynote at Lambda World 2017, presenting category theory as very abstract algebra whose abstraction gives it broad applicability. She applies it to everyday questions including privilege and prejudice.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2019 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Recommends sunmao · 2019-04 · on “How category theory is applied”
"But it’s hard to explain to people not steeped in the subject." I don't agree. Actually it can be understood relatively easily, if it's explained well: [this video] [LINK]
Recommends gugagore · 2021-02 · on “What Is Applied Category Theory? (2018)”
There is an applied category theory course that is currently in the process of wrapping up: [LINK] The examples in the course offer a complementary entry point to category theory compared to an approach that leverages programmers' knowledge of functional programming. Personally, the more examples the better. I'm grateful to be able to rely on the example of a category as a collection of objects corresponding to types, and arrows between types corresponding to functions with that type signature, and arrow composition corresponding to function composition (and functors, and natural transformations, and ... corresponding to familiar concepts like polymorphic types, and map, and polymorphic func
Recommends OracB7 · 2022-08 · on “How to learn hard things in tech”
Eugenia Cheng has some interesting and accessible videos, e.g.: [this video] and in a similar vein I am enjoying her book: "How to Bake Pi". Getting more into the technical side of things, Bartosz Milewski has good lessons in this playlist: [LINK]