4 ms·

Its about feeling smarter than the guy next to you.

dspillett 9y ago
If you genuinely think that then either the guy next to you is smarter than you, or is being a dick about what he knows instead of helping you understand.
nv-vn 9y ago
If the whole point were to seem smarter than others, what would be the point of writing articles inviting people to learn it?
- Eire_Banshee 9y ago
  internet street cred
  - eropple 9y ago
    So let's think about the two possibilities. 1) People feel, through experience, that writing code that minimizes mutable state and side effects leads to building systems that are more easily reasoned about, composed, and debugged, which is the job of the people thinking about FP. 2) Those people just want to look smart. Geez--I know which of these makes a heck of a lot more sense.
jackhack 9y ago
I think it's about gaining a different view of one's craft, a new way of looking at existing problems in a way that potentially provides an advantageous approach. And even if it never pans out professionally, well then, hopefully it's been a fun detour into a new way of thinking.
dboreham 9y ago
Wish I could upvote twice.
noonespecial 9y ago
I think the opposite. The smart people I knew from the old days could manage enormous imperative code bases in their minds and perform feats that seemed impossible to my lesser mortal mind. Functional style was like a secret weapon I could use to keep up with them even with my lesser mental horsepower.
carapace 9y ago
You are technically incorrect (The best kind of incorrect.) Imperative is to Functional as Alchemy is to Chemistry. Are chemists smarter than alchemists?
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
There are people who act that way, yes. (They're not just in FP, unfortunately.) But the value of FP doesn't depend on everybody using it being a wonderful human being. The value of FP depends on its ability to help you write (and maintain) programs. That value is real, even if some proponents are just wanting to feel smarter than you.

If you genuinely think that then either the guy next to you is smarter than you, or is being a dick about what he knows instead of helping you understand.

nv-vn 9y ago

If the whole point were to seem smarter than others, what would be the point of writing articles inviting people to learn it?

Eire_Banshee 9y ago
internet street cred
- eropple 9y ago
  So let's think about the two possibilities. 1) People feel, through experience, that writing code that minimizes mutable state and side effects leads to building systems that are more easily reasoned about, composed, and debugged, which is the job of the people thinking about FP. 2) Those people just want to look smart. Geez--I know which of these makes a heck of a lot more sense.

jackhack 9y ago

I think it's about gaining a different view of one's craft, a new way of looking at existing problems in a way that potentially provides an advantageous approach. And even if it never pans out professionally, well then, hopefully it's been a fun detour into a new way of thinking.

dboreham 9y ago

Wish I could upvote twice.

noonespecial 9y ago

I think the opposite. The smart people I knew from the old days could manage enormous imperative code bases in their minds and perform feats that seemed impossible to my lesser mortal mind. Functional style was like a secret weapon I could use to keep up with them even with my lesser mental horsepower.

carapace 9y ago

You are technically incorrect (The best kind of incorrect.) Imperative is to Functional as Alchemy is to Chemistry. Are chemists smarter than alchemists?

AnimalMuppet 9y ago

There are people who act that way, yes. (They're not just in FP, unfortunately.) But the value of FP doesn't depend on everybody using it being a wonderful human being. The value of FP depends on its ability to help you write (and maintain) programs. That value is real, even if some proponents are just wanting to feel smarter than you.