Trying to understand the Y combinator has always left me with a throbbing headache and a craving for pretzels. But recently, while reading through The Little Schemer, I had a moment of clarity which left me with a much deeper understanding of how the whole thing works.

Check out Grokking the Y Combinator with Elixir for a step by step breakdown of what the Y combinator is, why it’s interesting, and how it can be derived through plain old Elixir code.