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Discussion on: Is functional programming in JS really worth it?

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stereobooster profile image
stereobooster

Its undeniable that Functional Programming isn't new, can get complicated or confusing, and didn't catch on for a reason... 40 years ago.

Why Isn't Functional Programming the Norm? – Richard Feldman

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bradtaniguchi profile image
Brad

I don't have time, or want to watch a 46 min video from the co-creator of Elm (a functional programming language) presented at a functional programming conference (Clojture).

Without watching any more than the first few frames of the video, I'd like to assume he will talk highly of functional programming, while including some historical context about why it isn't the current norm. He also may even push for the idea that it will become more popular in the future. Finally he may even will sprinkle in talk about how Elm is the future, by talking about how it solves the problems presented earlier in the talk.

I'd expect a person who made a functional programming language to say as such, otherwise why are they at the functional programming conference.

I may watch it in the future out of curiosity, but if conference talks are about hype, its important to pay attention to the source before buying into said hype. Its very possible, that person talking has some biases.

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dannymcgee profile image
Danny McGee

FWIW, I've watched the video and it's actually pretty interesting. Definitely some pie-in-the-sky evangelism about FP (though not about Elm in particular from what I remember), but mostly just a lot of history. (I don't really have a dog in the fight, for reference. I program mostly in TypeScript and mostly with classes, but I have taken a recent liking to pipe transforms thanks to RxJs.)