I interpreted this to mean alcoholics that are still functioning in society.
If you rephrase that as "alcoholics with no side effects," it's pretty much the same thing.
I interpreted it first to mean functional programming, then remembered what functional means to most people, then remembered that this was HackerNews, so I had to check.
It's a pun.
just wait til the straight edge smalltalk fans catch wind of this.
Maybe I'll finally get some closure.
Unlike object-oriented alcoholics, the functional alcoholics have yet to so much as open a bottle of screw-top wine.
Great idea! Would love to attend.
Same here, but it seems that all the Lisp and functional action happens on the coasts.
Everything happens on the coasts. Except like bread and stuff.
This is our first meetup. If you like functional programming and booze then you should definitely attend. We will choose a venue after getting a rough estimate of how many people are attending. Thanks.
It's an interesting idea. I need an echo chamber, er, like-minded group to prevent me from going crazy working with these imperative biologists.
It seems, based on your free-form questions, that you're checking to make sure people have a genuine interest in functional programming before letting them into the group. Am I correct? Kind of reminds me of http://freehackersunion.org/
It's just an interesting data point really. Although if you have no genuine interest in functional programming then you'd better really like booze.
Might I point out that alcohol tends to cause destructive updates to data?
I like to order a curried scotch and soda and then do the uncurrying at the table.
Make sure you take out insurance for collateral damage stemming from the drunken Haskell v. Erlang brawl that is sure to ensue.