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I do not understand how this can be a recent article. Programming without variables was the hype in the early 90s with languages like graal (http://link.springe

I do not understand how this can be a recent article. Programming without variables was the hype in the early 90s with languages like graal (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F3-540-16442-1_6 http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F3-540-16442-1_6). Now, the most relative hype is non mutable data structures (for example in scala).

username42 13y ago
Please, add comments to explain why you are moding me down so much. I love when Gerald Jay Sussman explains the difference between recursion and iteration (http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...), but I really feel this is history of computer science, not hot news.
- jfarmer 13y ago
  Your comment is what has come to be called a "middlebrow dismissal," cf. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920.
  - username42 13y ago
    Yes, I really think that the article "Programming Without Variables" does not deserve the first page of HN, but I do not have enough karma to mod it down. The title refers to an interesting subject, but the content is almost only about technicalities in converting a loop into a recursive, then into a tail recursive function. The level is so poor, it is really deceptive.
    - gknoy 13y ago
      Many of the readers here are programmers; a well written article (or blog post, even) about coding in a way which lets your compiler use tail recursion optimizations is Pretty Interesting to many of us, even if we already know in our hearts that recursion can be efficient. The fact that he's doing this in a non-lisp makes it more accessible to some, and just interesting to others. I think that's OK to have on the HN front page, even if it's not something you personally find interesting. Try considering that HN is a resource to more than just you or just me. Consider that some programmers here might be more or less experienced than us, and that it's possible this might be the window into "oh, hey, recursion!" that some new programmer needed in order to discover a new avenue of learning. In that light, this is a pretty worthy article on HN. I especially like that he goes into implementation detail, rather than just saying, "Duh, use tail recursion", and thus ends up explaining how to actually do it well (in case a reader didn't know).
    - jfarmer 13y ago
      The "level is so poor?" I don't know what that could possibly mean except "This article is beneath me." Well, that's fine. It was written for folks who had never thought about the relationship between iteration and recursion in this way and is clearly angling towards introducing something like a point-free style. Perhaps there are more people like than on HN than you thought. Both your original comment and this one are prototypical examples of a middlebrow dismissal. You're not actually saying anything about the article, but you're telling us a lot about how good you think your taste is.
- ternaryoperator 13y ago
  What the community is telling you is that your view of what's a fit for HN is not consistent with theirs. As you're comparatively new to HN, your view of what should be on the front page is likely to be incomplete. In addition, the dismissive tone of your comment, based on you seeing a similar feature years ago in an obscure language rubs people the wrong way. Are we never supposed to discuss coding techniques or algorithms simply because they were once discussed elsewhere years ago? Enjoy HN and contribute to the dialog; try not to attack other people's contributions.
pessimizer 13y ago
This is a column, not news. In addition, he is using non-mutable data, it's the entire point of the article. So people voting you down are assuming that you both didn't read the article, and are judging it based on strange criteria.

username42 13y ago

Please, add comments to explain why you are moding me down so much. I love when Gerald Jay Sussman explains the difference between recursion and iteration (http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...), but I really feel this is history of computer science, not hot news.

jfarmer 13y ago
Your comment is what has come to be called a "middlebrow dismissal," cf. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920.
- username42 13y ago
  Yes, I really think that the article "Programming Without Variables" does not deserve the first page of HN, but I do not have enough karma to mod it down. The title refers to an interesting subject, but the content is almost only about technicalities in converting a loop into a recursive, then into a tail recursive function. The level is so poor, it is really deceptive.
  - gknoy 13y ago
    Many of the readers here are programmers; a well written article (or blog post, even) about coding in a way which lets your compiler use tail recursion optimizations is Pretty Interesting to many of us, even if we already know in our hearts that recursion can be efficient. The fact that he's doing this in a non-lisp makes it more accessible to some, and just interesting to others. I think that's OK to have on the HN front page, even if it's not something you personally find interesting. Try considering that HN is a resource to more than just you or just me. Consider that some programmers here might be more or less experienced than us, and that it's possible this might be the window into "oh, hey, recursion!" that some new programmer needed in order to discover a new avenue of learning. In that light, this is a pretty worthy article on HN. I especially like that he goes into implementation detail, rather than just saying, "Duh, use tail recursion", and thus ends up explaining how to actually do it well (in case a reader didn't know).
  - jfarmer 13y ago
    The "level is so poor?" I don't know what that could possibly mean except "This article is beneath me." Well, that's fine. It was written for folks who had never thought about the relationship between iteration and recursion in this way and is clearly angling towards introducing something like a point-free style. Perhaps there are more people like than on HN than you thought. Both your original comment and this one are prototypical examples of a middlebrow dismissal. You're not actually saying anything about the article, but you're telling us a lot about how good you think your taste is.
ternaryoperator 13y ago
What the community is telling you is that your view of what's a fit for HN is not consistent with theirs. As you're comparatively new to HN, your view of what should be on the front page is likely to be incomplete. In addition, the dismissive tone of your comment, based on you seeing a similar feature years ago in an obscure language rubs people the wrong way. Are we never supposed to discuss coding techniques or algorithms simply because they were once discussed elsewhere years ago? Enjoy HN and contribute to the dialog; try not to attack other people's contributions.

pessimizer 13y ago

This is a column, not news. In addition, he is using non-mutable data, it's the entire point of the article. So people voting you down are assuming that you both didn't read the article, and are judging it based on strange criteria.