[Haskell-cafe] Recursion in Haskell

[Michael Vanier]

P. R. Stanley wrote:

> What are the pre-requisites for Lambda calculus?
> Thanks
> Paul
> 

Learning lambda calculus requires no prerequisites other than the ability to 
think clearly.  However, don't think that you need to understand all about 
lambda calculus in order to learn Haskell.  It's more like the other way around: 
by the time you've learned Haskell, you've already unwittingly absorbed a good 
deal of lambda calculus.  Once again, I recommend Pierces _Types and Programming 
Languages_ as a reference if you really feel you need to learn this now.

For absorbing the functional style of programming (which is what you really 
should be working on at this point), the book _Structure and Interpretation of 
Computer Programs_ by Abelson and Sussman (which uses Scheme, not Haskell) is 
very valuable.  For learning about recursion, the book _The Little Schemer_ by 
Friedman and Felleisen is also very good (and quite short); it also uses Scheme. 
  However, most of the insights of both books carry over into Haskell (with a 
change of syntax, of course).

Mike