Algebraic Types are not Scary, Actually
Algebraic Types are not Scary, Actually Posted on 2025-08-30 You may have heard the term algebraic types before, which initially sounds like an advanced concept, that only someone with a PhD in programming languages can understand. Quite the contrary, algebraic types is a very simple and helpful concept about programming in general. Anyone who knows basic algebra could understand what algebraic types are. In this article I aim to provide an explanation of algebraic types for the working programmer. I intentionally avoid any terminology that a regular programmer may not know about. I hope by the end of the article you know what algebraic types are and can use it in real programming and spot it where it appears. Types as Sets What is a type, really? For instance, when we write int,…
