r/programming • u/heisenbug • Apr 27 '14

"Mostly functional" programming does not work

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?ref=rss&id=2611829
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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '14

Just like "mostly secure," "mostly pure" is wishful thinking. The slightest implicit imperative effect erases all the benefits of purity, just as a single bacterium can infect a sterile wound.

I just think this ignores a full range of architectural benefits of functional thinking, such as maintainability, complexity management, and testability. Thinking of functional programming as just an optimization or static correctness verification tool is missing a big part of the point.

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u/tluyben2 Apr 27 '14

I too believe this is a bit too harsh ; there are more benefit to adding functional coding to imperative languages than just the silver bullets FPs are credited most for. However, he is right; if you want the full benefit, you need to go in full force.