Why Why Functional Programming Matters Matters

The best C hacker I've ever met (probably the best programmer, period) swears by Haskell and functional programming. So does the second best.

In my time here at my full-time job I've mentored a lot of kids straight out of school. So often I hear things like "I can't wait to start programming in a real language with pointers" after they've been doing support scripting in python or tcl or whatever. Unfortunately, people like to feel like they are controlling the computer.. because they want to show how well they know how it works. They love the HOW of programming, because it makes them feel smart.

But Great Programmers want to solve problems quickly. They want to do what first, how later.

This article made me smile. Perhaps more importantly, it made me reread WhyFP, and the pastiche WhyHaskell. I'm a member of the choir, of course, but it's often good to read over a classic text to glean fresh understanding, and perhaps most importantly to see how "timeless wisdom" applies to your current adventures. (It's for that reason that I'm rereading The Mythical Man-Month.)

Ahh SOC what's a Java monkey to do?