Principia Mathematica: A Modern Classic on Programming Languages

Principia Mathematica is modern and insightful

Published in 1910, Whitehead and Russell's Principia Mathematica reads like a modern text on programming languages. It discusses extensionality, referential transparency, and types, and anticipates lambda-calculus with its propositional functions. The book's insistence on distinguishing 'any' from 'all' hints at intuitionism, and its 'incomplete symbols' foreshadow continuations. This review highlights these insights, noting that the book's real value lies in its foundational concepts, not its famous 1+1=2 proof.