From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,b3f07bd1ad77d438 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!npeer02.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.glorb.com!news2.glorb.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: "(see below)" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: The state of functional programming Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:57:57 +0100 Message-ID: References: <2adc4d8d-210e-429c-8188-9b1e99c2718e@d17g2000yqb.googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net 2Ya4zsn7ZH+wMb4p5slDdQSxvziaMND5xYfCH1Wo9krRiM3gcq Cancel-Lock: sha1:zzNNNIYWxy9GT1G+J7VB6JvAxsw= User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/12.23.0.091001 Thread-Topic: The state of functional programming Thread-Index: AcszE+BBo9STDBFLnUePSn37WNxYRg== Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:12825 Date: 2010-08-03T14:57:57+01:00 List-Id: On 03/08/2010 04:15, in article i381k9$dcf$1@munin.nbi.dk, "Randy Brukardt" wrote: > "(see below)" wrote in message > news:C8762BCC.14B84F%yaldnif.w@blueyonder.co.uk... >> On 28/07/2010 17:40, in article >> g24nvegdi17t$.1azxwn1rwjixi$.dlg@40tude.net, >> "Dmitry A. Kazakov" wrote: > ... > >>> This claim was made for each and every programming paradigm. It need to >>> be >>> substantiated, and especially for FP, which does not look very promising >>> at >>> all. >> >> Indeed, it has been "promising", but not delivering, for a very long time. > > No kidding. FP was an "old" technique when I studied it as an undergraduate > at the University of Wisconsin. In 1978. > > I think it appeals to those that are very mathematically inclined. But they > tend to forget that there is a lot more to programming than just creating > functions and stringing them together. The fetishization of "concision" in FP, as though that had great intrinsic value, rather that being (as it actually is) a barrier to comprehension, is undoubtedly part of that: mathematics envy writ small. > (Not to say that there isn't value to > some of the ideas, but only in a larger framework that deals with typing, > problem mapping, and the like.) Exactly so. -- Bill Findlay chez blueyonder.co.uk