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Book cover Category Theory and Computer Programming

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 240))

Abstract

A category has objects and morphisms. The latter can be composed. We have no immediate access to internal structure of objects. Thus all properties must be expressed in terms of morphisms. For example we met briefly the Initial Model which was characterised by the fact that there was a unique morphism from it to any other model. In Set, the empty set has a similar property whereas a singleton set has the property that there is a unique function from any other set to it. The next article will investigate such constructions which can be defined simply in terms of the existence and properties of morphisms.

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References

  1. M.A. Arbib, E.G. Manes, "Arrows, Structures and Functions — The Categorical Imperative", Academic Press, New York-San Francisco-London 1975.

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  2. J. Backus, Can Programming be Liberated from the von Neuman Style? A Functional Style and Its Algebra or Programs. Communications of ACM August 1978 Vol 21, number 8.

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  3. J.A. Goguen and R.M. Burstall "Institutions: Abstract Model Theory for Computer Science". Technical Report CSLI — 85-30, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, 1985.

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  4. S. Maclane, "Categories for the Working Mathematician" Springer Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 1971.

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  5. H. Ehrig and B. Mahr, "Fundamentals of Algebraic Specification 1" EATCS Monographs on Theoretical Computer Science, Springer-Verlag.

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David Pitt Samson Abramsky Axel Poigné David Rydeheard

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pitt, D. (1986). Categories. In: Pitt, D., Abramsky, S., Poigné, A., Rydeheard, D. (eds) Category Theory and Computer Programming. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 240. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-17162-2_113

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-17162-2_113

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-17162-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47213-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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