The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems vs An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus
When comparing The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems vs An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus, the Slant community recommends The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems for most people. In the question“What are the most influential books every programmer should read?” The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems is ranked 19th while An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus is ranked 43rd. The most important reason people chose The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems is:
The author takes an in depth look at "cognitive engineering" and applying it to software design (ex. How users form habits when interacting with software).
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Looks at the psychology behind interaction design
The author takes an in depth look at "cognitive engineering" and applying it to software design (ex. How users form habits when interacting with software).
Pro Works with most programming languages
Lambda calculus can be done with paper and pencil, but any programming language with lambda (like Python) can work with it.
Pro Hard to put down
Learn how to build a functional programming language from first principles.
Pro Non-technical
This book doesn't assume any kind of math or programming knowledge beyond elementary school.
Cons
Con The point is not often clear
The Human Interface can be a confusing read for a variety of reasons.
The author is frequently referencing one of his projects, Canon Cat, even when there is no beneficial/relevant reason to do so.
There are some contradictions throughout the book, and plenty of negativity towards the studies he mentions (however, he does not often use studies to back up his own claims).
The book does not have illustrations or screenshots, making it difficult to follow at times.
Con Hard to pick up
The first chapter is reportedly not so good.