sdowney:
i'm not naive enough to think they are the composition function, and i've gathered it has something to do with free terms, but beyond that i'm not sure. unless it also has something to do with fix points?
The wiki knows all! :) http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Pointfree 1 But pointfree has more points! A common misconception is that the 'points' of pointfree style are the (.) operator (function composition, as an ASCII symbol), which uses the same identifier as the decimal point. This is wrong. The term originated in topology, a branch of mathematics which works with spaces composed of points, and functions between those spaces. So a 'points-free' definition of a function is one which does not explicitly mention the points (values) of the space on which the function acts. In Haskell, our 'space' is some type, and 'points' are values. -- Don