4 ms·

is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest or more due

is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest or more due to keywords like "pure", "functional", "data" and "structure"?

ufo 3y ago
It is is still the go-to textbook for immutable data structures. Worth the read.
paulgb 3y ago
I can’t speak for everyone, but I upvoted it from nostalgia, having read the book version over a decade ago. I happened to be thinking about ordering a copy for the office just yesterday.
- dllthomas 3y ago
  I have a copy on my desk. The bit about designing data structures by analogy to number systems (and limiting carry propagation) is really fun.
bradrn 3y ago
> is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest …? In my case, yes.
jstrieb 3y ago
I've recently used a number of structures that I learned from this book. Though I don't know if the text represents the state of the art in purely functional data structures, it's a pretty seminal work in the area.
- UncleMeat 3y ago
  Nowhere near the state of the art. Lots of improvements since this was published. It is a good book for learning. It is a decent book for reference. When you want to really fly you will want to reach for more recent work.
  - hardlianotion 3y ago
    Examples of more recent work for us non-specialists?
    - nequo 3y ago
      See the commenter here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36125110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36125110
      - hardlianotion 3y ago
        Missed it - thanks
schaefer 3y ago
This comment reads as if there is a clear, contemporary successor for learning pure functional data structures. Is there? If so, please do share a reference.
bluepod4 3y ago
Your comment is giving early 2010s hipster “you probably never heard of it” vibes.
turtleyacht 3y ago
The book is on Amazon, but this submission had those keywords, plus it's a PDF. Of course it is of contemporary relevance; functional programming (FP) is all the rage. The tricky bit are questions like How does this jive with existing JS functional constructs like "fantasy land," for example. How to "recruit" more folks to FP, or even a hybrid approach of objects interacting functionally Game jams using more FP-like data structures? Or more HN submissions like that. The harder things to evaluate are a lot of other topics, news-like but investigative and curious, or sites that are essentially selling a service (versus teaching the mechanism behind it). For SaaS stuff, since HN is about startups, I have to let it slide. But the hacking piece is when one person accomplishes something with persistent decomposition of sequential problems, or does something clever using tools or ideas from a different context.
- solomatov 3y ago
  My understanding is that the book is based on this PhD dissertation.
  - turtleyacht 3y ago
    Oh.. then, yes--this was unabashedly a (positively) triggered reaction (fortunately or unfortunately).

ufo 3y ago

It is is still the go-to textbook for immutable data structures. Worth the read.

paulgb 3y ago

I can’t speak for everyone, but I upvoted it from nostalgia, having read the book version over a decade ago. I happened to be thinking about ordering a copy for the office just yesterday.

dllthomas 3y ago
I have a copy on my desk. The bit about designing data structures by analogy to number systems (and limiting carry propagation) is really fun.

bradrn 3y ago

> is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest …? In my case, yes.

jstrieb 3y ago

I've recently used a number of structures that I learned from this book. Though I don't know if the text represents the state of the art in purely functional data structures, it's a pretty seminal work in the area.

UncleMeat 3y ago
Nowhere near the state of the art. Lots of improvements since this was published. It is a good book for learning. It is a decent book for reference. When you want to really fly you will want to reach for more recent work.
- hardlianotion 3y ago
  Examples of more recent work for us non-specialists?
  - nequo 3y ago
    See the commenter here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36125110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36125110
    - hardlianotion 3y ago
      Missed it - thanks

schaefer 3y ago

This comment reads as if there is a clear, contemporary successor for learning pure functional data structures. Is there? If so, please do share a reference.

bluepod4 3y ago

Your comment is giving early 2010s hipster “you probably never heard of it” vibes.

turtleyacht 3y ago

The book is on Amazon, but this submission had those keywords, plus it's a PDF. Of course it is of contemporary relevance; functional programming (FP) is all the rage. The tricky bit are questions like How does this jive with existing JS functional constructs like "fantasy land," for example. How to "recruit" more folks to FP, or even a hybrid approach of objects interacting functionally Game jams using more FP-like data structures? Or more HN submissions like that. The harder things to evaluate are a lot of other topics, news-like but investigative and curious, or sites that are essentially selling a service (versus teaching the mechanism behind it). For SaaS stuff, since HN is about startups, I have to let it slide. But the hacking piece is when one person accomplishes something with persistent decomposition of sequential problems, or does something clever using tools or ideas from a different context.

solomatov 3y ago
My understanding is that the book is based on this PhD dissertation.
- turtleyacht 3y ago
  Oh.. then, yes--this was unabashedly a (positively) triggered reaction (fortunately or unfortunately).