Why is the S combinator an S?
2 months ago
- #combinatory-logic
- #hiring-process
- #literature-history
- The publishers of L. Frank Baum's 'A New Wonderland' re-released it as 'The Magical Monarch of Mo' to capitalize on the success of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'.
- Mike Coutermarsh suggested a novel hiring approach: candidates analyze a 127-message Slack thread and write a proposal within 24 hours, assessing skills like research, writing, and problem-solving.
- The S combinator in combinatory logic is named after the German word 'schmelzen' (to fuse), not substitution, as it fuses expressions like (f x)(g x) into S f g x.
- Schönfinkel introduced combinatory logic in 1924, defining combinators like S (fusion), K (constant), and I (identity), with S being the most significant.
- The K combinator stands for 'Konstant' (German for constant), and I for identity, while S's naming comes from its function of fusing expressions.