Ben Franksen wrote:
Lennart Augustsson wrote:
What is a reduction anyway?
I am not an expert but I thought in lambda calculus one has primitive rules
for evaluation, e.g. beta reduction. So a reduction is a 'smallest step' in
reducing an expression to normal form, no?
Yes and no, a single beta reduction step like
(\x.c(d(e(f(x))))) g
=> c(d(e(f(g))))
may take 5 steps in some reduction strategies since you have to walk
down the expression tree to find the variable and replace it with its
value. In the end, seconds are a better measure for time :)
Regards,
apfelmus
_______________________________________________
Haskell-Cafe mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
