One way to get some C-learnin' in Java school is to get a Computer Engineering degree instead of CS or Software Engineering. Microcontrollers and embedded stuff

One way to get some C-learnin' in Java school is to get a Computer Engineering degree instead of CS or Software Engineering. Microcontrollers and embedded stuff still has a lot of assembly and C. That's what I did, anyways. Now I'm an embedded software engineer, writing in C++, and able to handle pointers and memory and such. My issue is how to learn functional programming. Can't learn it on the job, as this is a C++/Java/C# shop. And I haven't found a decent way to learn it as a hobby. Hobbies are for scratching an itch, which usually means Python frankenscripts to make some mundane piece of work easier, or quick one-offs in PHP to amuse friends, or python/html/css projects that'll never be finished but seemed cool when I started. Maybe someday the dirt cheap shared web hosting space will have RoR or Erland or Arc...