In practice functional programming is not the fastest way to solve many problems, but it is an excellent way to push forward the state of computer science as a

In practice functional programming is not the fastest way to solve many problems, but it is an excellent way to push forward the state of computer science as a whole. I don't think the state of computer science is really held back much by the current state of programming ability. SW Engineering is maybe held back by it, but many of the best computer scientists I know don't program at all and would think discussing Lisp vs Java would be like asking a mathematician if he preferred to use an ink or gel pen.