algebraic data types

Algebraic data types are ways of combining different types of data together. Imagine that you have a few types of toy blocks - blue, orange, and green blocks. You can create different shapes with all these different blocks. Algebraic data types are like a set of instructions that tell a computer how to combine all these blocks to make a particular shape. For example, to tell the computer to make a cube, you might say "combine two blue blocks, two orange blocks, and two green blocks". That set of instructions is our algebraic data type.