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AFAIK, tar pit paper is about how "shared mutable state" is problematic. Not sure what that has to do with sequentiality.
by ankurdhama 8y ago
AFAIK, tar pit paper is about how "shared mutable state" is problematic. Not sure what that has to do with sequentiality.
- dragonwriter 8y agoIt is about complexity; state, not necessarily shared, is the main source of complexity addressed but the fundamental point isn't specific to state. Sequentiality, often, especially, for example, for things which can be conceived of as set operations, adds unnecessary complexity which complicates reasoning.
- vendiddy 8y agoShared mutable state is just one cause of accidental complexity. In section 4.2 of the paper, they also talk about "Complexity caused by Control". Quoted: > The problem with control is that very often we do not want to have to be concerned with this. Obviously — given that we want to construct a real system in which things will actually happen — at some point order is going to be relevant to someone, but there are significant risks in concerning ourselves with this issue unnecessarily.
- typon 8y agoThe paper argues specifically against Prolog because it is not a "pure" control-agnostic language. a = 1; b = 2; The programmer does not need to concern themselves with the order of these two assignment statements and when languages impose the order, it adds unnecessary complexity to the system. (especially when thinking about concurrency)