Category Theory - An Abstraction for Anything

Explore the fundamentals of category theory and its applications in programming through this 36-minute conference talk from Strange Loop 2013. Delve into the mathematically sound foundation of category theory, learning how to create collections of objects and express morphisms between them. Discover how these elements, combined with simple rules, form categories that yield powerful results like the uniqueness of identity morphisms. Examine the relationships between categories and uncover practical abstractions. Grasp the accessibility of category theory's core concepts and their ability to formalize concrete ideas such as directed acyclic graphs, currying, polymorphic functions, and even Haskell itself. Gain insights into recognizing category-theoretical patterns in your own programming projects as you journey through specific examples of categories, functors, and natural transformations.