# An Overview of Category Theory's Purpose in Mathematics and Programming

DevFeed: [An Overview of Category Theory's Purpose in Mathematics and Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/categories-what-s-the-point-40313.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.jeremykun.com/2013/04/16/categories-whats-the-point/>)

Published: 2013-04-16T18:00:09Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Jeremy Kun](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jeremy-kun.md>)

Topics: [Category Theory](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/category-theory.md>), [Haskell](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/haskell.md>), [Functional programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/functional-programming.md>), [Mathematics](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mathematics.md>)

Tags: [categories](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/categories.md>), [category-theory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/category-theory.md>), [functional](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/functional.md>), [haskell](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/haskell.md>), [mathematics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mathematics.md>), [theory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/theory.md>)

## AI overview

This introductory article explains category theory as a way to organize mathematical ideas by shared structure. It uses analogies to programming-language abstractions and discusses why programmers, particularly Haskell and functional-language developers, may be interested in category-theoretic concepts.

## Source excerpt

Perhaps primarily due to the prominence of monads in the Haskell programming language, programmers are often curious about category theory. Proponents of Haskell and other functional languages can put category-theoretic concepts on a pedestal or in a mexican restaurant, and their benefits can seem as mysterious as they are magical. For instance, the most common use of a monad in Haskell is to simulate the mutation of immutable data. Others include suspending and backtracking computations, and even untying tangled rope.