Homework for Cat Theory Day 1: why not?

So you know, I hope, that mathematics is not an spectator's sport.
You need to do the calculations, otherwise the stuff doesn't work.

The good news is that no one will come after you, asking for your grades or anything like it. And that you can come and ask  me questions, if you feel like it.

The bad news is that, if you don't do them (the exercises) you'll end up thinking that you've learnt and sometimes you haven't. Your call, of course.

To sweeten the pill, there's a reading for each day, just for the fun of it.
For the exercises, there are answers on the web, but you should really try to do it, first.

The first treat is “The aims of Education” by Andrew Abbott of the University of Chicago. Only 5 pages and (I find it) a different take on why do we go to college.

Mathematics as we know it...

Frank Quinn had a very interesting article entitled "A REVOLUTION IN MATHEMATICS? WHAT REALLY HAPPENED A CENTURY AGO, AND WHY IT MATTERS TODAY", in the Notices of the AMS, January 2012. You can find it it here.

Living and Learning?

Category Theory requires exercises, so I'm trying to organize homework sheets. But I want to add some treats to the homework, a bit like I a did for Phil50/COEN260.

The first treat is “The aims of Education” by Andrew Abbott of the University of Chicago. Only 5 pages and (I find it) a different take on why do we go to college.

The second treat is Lockhart's Lament, check this old post.

The third treat is Quinn's Revolution, published by the AMS, January 2012.

The fourth treat is  Anonymous in Quora on  "What is it like to have an understanding of very advanced mathematics?"

We end with something different, Eli Pariser on "The Filter Bubble", TED talk, May 2011.

And yes, I feel sorry not to include Wigner's `The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences'. Nor Hamming's ``The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics" and perhaps the unreasonable effectiveness of data should be mentioned too...

Oh well too many treats might make us sick...
But keeping links in store is not so bad. Shame I couldn't find "The Atlantic Canon of Tech" when I first tried it. Glad I found it now (Mar 2024)

Category Theory introduction? yeah, sure...

MacLane

Eilenberg

There is plenty of material on category theory around. Collecting here some old favorites and some newer stuff that I haven't checked out,  yet.

The familiar:

S. Mac Lane, Categories for the Working Mathematician (1971, 1998)

R. Goldblatt, Topoi, Dover reprint and online (1979, 1984, 1986, 2002).

J.-Y. Girard, Y. Lafont, P. Taylor, Proofs and Types (1989) online 

V. de Paiva, Categorical Proof Theory and Linear Logic, ESSLLI, Prague (1996) google doc sideways(!) available

D. Crouch, J. Genabith, Linear Logic for Linguists, ESSLLI (2000), notes

J. Gallier, Constructive Logics. Part I: A Tutorial on Proof Systems and Typed lambda-Calculi, paper

Then some traditional fare:

R. Blute P. Scott, Category Theory for Linear Logicians (2003)

F.W. Lawvere, S.H. Schanuel, Conceptual Mathematics (1997)

S. Awodey, Category Theory, (2010)

H. Simmons, An Introduction to Category Theory, CUP, (2011) online version

Adámek, Jiří, Herrlich, Horst, & Strecker, George E.; (1990). Abstract and Concrete Categories Originally publ. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-60922-6. (now free on-line edition). 

M. Barr, C. Wells, Toposes, Triples and Theories, 1983, now online.

Then more adventurous (perhaps??) stuff:

M. Stay, Category Theory in JavaScript.

M. Johansson, Category Theory and Functional Programming, Stanford FALL 2009 course and St. Andrews 2012 notes   (99 pages)

also Chalmers discussion group

Abramsky and Tzevelekos, "Introduction to Categories and Categorical Logic" (2010)

G. Hutton, Introduction to Category Theory, Midlands Graduate School notes, 2012.

D. Verity, An Introduction to Category Theory - FP-Syd talk.

E. Cheng, The Catstars, YouTube channel.

J. van Oosten, Basic Category Theory, 2002, notes

L. Maertens, Category Theory for Program Construction. ESSLLI notes (1995)

S. Easterbrook, An introduction to Category Theory for Software Engineers, slides

Further afield:

• Sets for Mathematics by F. W. Lawvere & R. Rosebrugh.
• Topoi: The Categorical Analysis of Logic by R. Goldblatt.
• Abstract and Concrete Categories: The Joy of Cats by J. Adamek, H. Herrlich, G. Strecker.
• Categorical Logic by A. M. Pitts. 
• Stone Spaces by P. T. Johnstone.
• Sheaves in Geometry and Logic: A First Intorduction to Topos Theory by S. Mac Lane & I. Moerdijk.
• Handbook of Categorical Algebra (three volumes) by F. Borceux.

Categorical Logic Lab? Yes!!!

The bit I saw of the Logic, Rationality and Interaction meeting was excellent.

Love the idea of logical labs:  I want a Categorical Logic Lab!

How do I go about getting one?...

March was Qualis Time

no, not quality time. (haven't had that for ages...)

QUALIS is the system CAPES (a Brazilian funding agency) uses to measure the quality of pos-grad programmes. Since they classify journals, it ends up being an unofficial yardstick to measure all research produced in the land. Some Brazilian logicians realized that the classification was very arbitrary and we had a petition to try to influence the official arbiters.

Getting a petition going and some small amount of consensus on the classification of journals was very hard.

XV Simposio Latino Americano de Logica Matematica (SLALM2012)

Going to Bogota, Colombia today for the 15th Latin American Symposium on Mathematical Logic.
A bit worried as I don't know many people in this community, but looking forward.