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> Well managed accessible state can be greatly simplifying. Absolutely--and functional programming is one way to achieve that. From the perspective a given fun
by bradstewart 7y ago
> Well managed accessible state can be greatly simplifying.
Absolutely--and functional programming is one way to achieve that. From the perspective a given function, all "state" is captured in its inputs and outputs. You know exactly what existing state can be used by the function (inputs) and exactly what state can be generated by the function (outputs) simply from looking at the signature.
- DrScientist 7y agoI'm talking about the difficultly of reasoning about high level application state when it isn't explicit. To take a low level example - sorting a list efficiently is easy with imperative programming and mutable state ( Note you can still encapsulate that state within a object - it doesn't need to be global ). On the other hand took about 20 years before somebody worked how to do it reasonably with a functional approach. Being obsessive about a pure functional approach and/or having a holy war against heap managed state is a mistake in my view. Functional approach is a tool in the toolbox, not a golden hammer.
- bradstewart 7y agoTotally agreed. Being obsessive about (almost) anything in software is a recipe for pain.