I'm interested in learning FP, but I'd like to apply it to something as I am a generally project oriented person. To this end I'd like to try something like F# or Scala rather than Haskell and make some sort of utility - what's a good place to begin? This is coming from a Java and C background taught through university (still there).
If you’re creating a user interface of some kind it’s a lot easier to get feedback and to actually see something working while directly applying FP concepts.
I would also recommend Typescript over JavaScript, not only for the better experience but also as there is a lot of overlap between type theory and FP.
It's a beautifully small language , easy to learn with great error messages by the compiler. You can learn tk build highly interactive webpages by just going through their guide. The reason for choosing elm over scala or f sharp is that while it lacks many of the advanced features it has the essential basics of the fp world nailed down. Pure functions, function composition and currying, composing side effects.
If you can't find a mentor, try creating an app with a lot of constraints: don't change state, make most functions referentially transparent, etc.
Damn, this is a great idea. Reminds of the Stravinsky quote:
'The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.'
I like projects but discovered that I actually learned quite a bit just from working through short problems at Hackerrank.
It also sports a pragmatic community - web, CLI, UI etc utilities abound.
What do you mean?