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Functional Programming Languages

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    Functional Programming Languages

    ...seem to be in vogue at the moment, it only took 30 years for them to finally emerge from the geeky Computer Science research depts. I mean geeks have been using LISP for years but you hardly saw it in a real commercial environment. But F# seems to be lighting everyone's fire.

    so is F# the future???
    Last edited by BlasterBates; 3 May 2010, 08:15.
    I'm alright Jack

    #2
    Dunno. Ask Miranda...

    It looks like more "write once, read never". Anyway, it will be seized on in some quarters as the solution to all their programming problems. I can't see it really taking off in a big way though.
    Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

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      #3
      When F# was announced on the Microsoft weekly email I thought that it was interesting and I'll get around to trying it out. I think that was 3 maybe 4 years ago.
      How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

      Follow me on Twitter - LinkedIn Profile - The HAB blog - New Blog: Mad Cameron
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      "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office" - Aesop

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        #4
        I use such languages a lot.

        If you have 600 students on a programming course there'll be 3 that can. You can spot those 3 early on in by giving them something to do in Lisp. That way you don't need to waste your time on the rest.

        Which is nice.
        Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
        threadeds website, and here's my blog.

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          #5
          Is there a GOTO statement?

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            #6
            Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
            Is there a GOTO statement?
            Of course.

            It is quite beautiful too.
            Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
            threadeds website, and here's my blog.

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              #7
              Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
              Is there a GOTO statement?
              It has LET, clearly it's based on Oric BASIC.

              Functional programming was big news, and the future of all things (along with transputers) when I was at university in 1989. ISTM they were always talking about how useful it was for calculating factorials; maybe they couldn't think of anything else to do with it. So F# is probably great news if you make your living in the calculating factorials software sector.
              Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

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                #8
                Originally posted by VectraMan View Post
                It has LET, clearly it's based on Oric BASIC.

                Functional programming was big news, and the future of all things (along with transputers) when I was at university in 1989. ISTM they were always talking about how useful it was for calculating factorials; maybe they couldn't think of anything else to do with it. So F# is probably great news if you make your living in the calculating factorials software sector.

                They were saying the same in my day, back in '79.
                How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

                Follow me on Twitter - LinkedIn Profile - The HAB blog - New Blog: Mad Cameron
                Xeno points: +5 - Asperger rating: 36 - Paranoid Schizophrenic rating: 44%

                "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office" - Aesop

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by VectraMan View Post
                  It has LET, clearly it's based on Oric BASIC.

                  Functional programming was big news, and the future of all things (along with transputers) when I was at university in 1989. ISTM they were always talking about how useful it was for calculating factorials; maybe they couldn't think of anything else to do with it. So F# is probably great news if you make your living in the calculating factorials software sector.
                  Lisp also has macros, and all functional languages can do much the same thing: treat data as code and code as data. So even if GOTOs didn't exist, you could write a macro that did the same thing.

                  The recursion thing is generally something I avoid banging on about. Functional languages make for nice looking code, which gets an 'ooh', but then when you start building on that and talk about the halting problem etc., they soon glaze over.
                  Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
                  threadeds website, and here's my blog.

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                    #10
                    Whoever named them "functional" is a retard or it's a sick joke - just search for my ranks in Technical, look for XSLT / XPATH keyrods

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