Category Theory

I came across a playlist about Category Theory. In it, Bartosz Milewski, a PhD in Quantum Physics and author of Category Theory for Programmers, gives an excellent lecture on one of the great concepts of mathematical abstraction and how it can give us a better view of the world. After all, mathematics is nothing more than a technique invented by Homo sapiens to describe how things work (or not, as quantum physics might say) in the world.

A world of functions and types

Abstraction goes a long way in category theory. Unlike set theory, we do not deal with elements and all their nuances here; the abstraction goes further. In his videos, Milewski often uses set theory to make a connection with the abstraction found in category theory. Composition (composability) and identity are fundamental concepts in category theory.

Many of these ideas seem abstract and strange if you are not familiar with functional programming. If you are, a lot of what gets done starts to make sense. I recommend it! 👍