After linking to James Hague's article "Functional Programming Doesn't Work", Wallingford argues that a practical compromise is to write programs that contain a

After linking to James Hague's article "Functional Programming Doesn't Work", Wallingford argues that a practical compromise is to write programs that contain about 90% pure and 10% stateful code. Interestingly, Hague came to the same conclusion in a followup to his own article: "My real position is this: 100% pure functional programing doesn't work. Even 98% pure functional programming doesn't work. But if the slider between functional purity and 1980s BASIC-style imperative messiness is kicked down a few notches--say to 85%--then it really does work." http://prog21.dadgum.com/55.html http://prog21.dadgum.com/55.html