Understanding C# Method for Calculating Factorials

[Paul Colby]

So, monadic constructs are things I really didn't get when I was looking at Haskell. The "types" of problems I was playing with at the time were computer algebra type things, vector spaces, groups and such. Just trying to learn. I came away feeling okay, cool, what do I get from this effort?

 

[sysprog]

So, monadic constructs are things I really didn't get when I was looking at Haskell. The "types" of problems I was playing with at the time were computer algebra type things, vector spaces, groups and such. Just trying to learn. I came away feeling okay, cool, what do I get from this effort?

I would just use MATLAB (or Mathematica/Wolfram) for most of that. For one-offs, my TI-83 is usually more than adequate for my purposes. If I need to do, e.g., a computationally intensive set of Fourier transforms, I'll use routines out of the Fortran library.

Most of my programming work is in IBM mainframe OS interfacing, and most of that is done in assembly language. Some of it is fixing other people's code, in whichever language they wrote it in.

On the PC, I prefer to use assembly language over using high-level languages, but I'll work with whatever best gets the job done. Subject to the condition that I prefer to code in languages I already know, in general, if I have a choice, I try to use whichever language I think is best for the problem I'm dealing with.

 

[Paul Colby]

I just reinstalled Haskell, I'm holding you directly responsible.

 

[stevendaryl]

The plus side of using functional languages (real functional languages, without side-effects, not languages that just look functional) is referential transparency. If you convince yourself that an expression always evaluates to some particular value, you can replace it by that value, and your program will work the same way. That's a powerful way to reason about programs.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

For @Chestermiller or anybody else, there's a nice book by RB Whittaker I forgot its name on C# so far looks like a great book, and also a website with solutions to the problems in it.