Programming Paradigms Evaluation Order and Infinite Lists
Normal forms
A normal form represents our intuition of the value of an expression
An expression is on normal form if it cannot be reduced further by use of beta and eta conversions
About normal forms
Some expressions have no normal form
Alpha conversions can be used infinitely, and as such they do not play any role in the
formulation of a normal form
A normal form is a particular simple expression, which is equivalent to the original expression,
due to the application of the conversions (reductions)
An example of a Scheme expression without a normal form.
Scheme expressions - some of which are in normal form.
