--- product_id: 5424403 title: "An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics)" price: "A$74" currency: AUD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/5424403-an-introduction-to-functional-programming-through-lambda-calculus-dover-books store_origin: AU region: Australia --- # An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics) **Price:** A$74 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics) - **How much does it cost?** A$74 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/5424403-an-introduction-to-functional-programming-through-lambda-calculus-dover-books) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Buy An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics) on desertcart.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders Review: A Must-Read For Every Self-Respecting Software Developer - Like Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Functional Programming (FP) is emerging as a mainstream paradigm for software developers. There are many great books out there that teach you functional programming, but largely neglect the theoretical/mathematical underpinnings. This language-agnostic book fills the gap with regards to the hows-and-whys and origins of functional programming. Apart from being extremely easy to understand and being fairly rigorous for an introductory-level book, this book also outlines the meanings and origins of some of the traditional terms and notations associated with functional programming, such as "consing". It wasn't until I read this book that I felt a sense of enlightenment as to the value of Functional Programming. Without a question, I have emerged as a much better software developer after reading this book. Review: Clear, unambiguous explanation of Lambda Calculus with plenty of examples - I am changing my rating from four stars to five stars because the wording and formulas in this book are extremely "tight" - every possible doubt I have has been anticipated and explained. I am loving my journey into lambda calculus. This book is teaching me how to write and transform lambda expressions for multiple purposes including the definitions of Boolean constants, natural numbers and operations on these quantities. I expect I will be able to apply this understanding when it comes time to read theorems in mathematical logic (this book has no theorems so far and no need of them since the focus is on practical derivations). The price is right. I have the Kindle edition and it is fine on a decent monitor but does not display well on a cell phone. Before finding this book I looked at many resources and found nothing I could learn from. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #384,832 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #13 in Functional Software Programming #117 in Introductory & Beginning Programming #127 in Calculus (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (135) | | Dimensions | 6.5 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches | | ISBN-10 | 0486478831 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0486478838 | | Item Weight | 10.4 ounces | | Language | English | | Part of series | Dover Books on Mathematics | | Print length | 336 pages | | Publication date | August 18, 2011 | | Publisher | Dover Publications | ## Images ![An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71ulB4ZBw5L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Must-Read For Every Self-Respecting Software Developer *by G***N on January 16, 2014* Like Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Functional Programming (FP) is emerging as a mainstream paradigm for software developers. There are many great books out there that teach you functional programming, but largely neglect the theoretical/mathematical underpinnings. This language-agnostic book fills the gap with regards to the hows-and-whys and origins of functional programming. Apart from being extremely easy to understand and being fairly rigorous for an introductory-level book, this book also outlines the meanings and origins of some of the traditional terms and notations associated with functional programming, such as "consing". It wasn't until I read this book that I felt a sense of enlightenment as to the value of Functional Programming. Without a question, I have emerged as a much better software developer after reading this book. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clear, unambiguous explanation of Lambda Calculus with plenty of examples *by A***N on July 2, 2021* I am changing my rating from four stars to five stars because the wording and formulas in this book are extremely "tight" - every possible doubt I have has been anticipated and explained. I am loving my journey into lambda calculus. This book is teaching me how to write and transform lambda expressions for multiple purposes including the definitions of Boolean constants, natural numbers and operations on these quantities. I expect I will be able to apply this understanding when it comes time to read theorems in mathematical logic (this book has no theorems so far and no need of them since the focus is on practical derivations). The price is right. I have the Kindle edition and it is fine on a decent monitor but does not display well on a cell phone. Before finding this book I looked at many resources and found nothing I could learn from. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard to start, but hard to put down. *by R***A on June 28, 2014* I've been trying to dive into functional programming, so I bought this book. The first chapter or so was a bit off in my opinion. The author should have covered why lambda calculus was invented and done a better job of giving a general overview. However, after looking up a few things online and getting a handle on it, this turned out to be a really amazing book. The author essentially teaches you how to build an entire programming language from first principles. It's quite a journey, actually. And in the process you actually understand how functional programming works. Knowing only beginner python I was able to follow along quite easily and if anything the author went into too much detail. So I found the pacing to be wonderful and because you understand everything that went on previously, the next part really isn't much of a leap. Many confusing functional programming peculiarities like partially applied functions, prefix notation, it's heavy use of recursion (and how it is applied) is a piece of cake. The book concludes with looking at two real programming languages, both of which are still extremely relevant today, and comparing it to the stuff we've been inventing with lambda calculus. The two example languages are Standard ML (which Haskell is largely derived from, for instance) and Common Lisp (which is the other major functional family of languages around today if you ignore prolog). So even though this is an old book, there's not a whole lot about it that's dated. If anything, it's dated in a very good way: it doesn't use academic language or assume you know a lot of programming concepts (many of which hadn't even been invented, so maybe that's part of it) or anything like that. It's easy to follow along with and lambda calculus is actually kind of fun. It's such a trivially simple method of calculating, but with thought you can create some very high-level math and programming ideas and see how they play out. By the way, no math knowledge is required to understand this book. Honestly, all you really need to know is the basic concept of addition and multiplication since the author will be implementing addition and multiplication functions. Other than that, there's no reason an absolute beginning to math or programming couldn't pick up this book. You might have to read the second chapter a second time after you get the hang of it. I want to give it five stars, but it was hard getting going like I mentioned. However, you can easily overcome that by finding and introductory article online or something. Nothing's perfect, but I'm very glad I bought this book. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/5424403-an-introduction-to-functional-programming-through-lambda-calculus-dover-books](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/5424403-an-introduction-to-functional-programming-through-lambda-calculus-dover-books) --- *Product available on Desertcart Australia* *Store origin: AU* *Last updated: 2026-04-22*