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Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

class.coursera.org

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Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#51

Post by ericssmith »

nradov wrote: post #37
pohl wrote: post #24

The "Scala Worksheet" feature of the Scala IDE plugin sounds pretty nice. Apparently it's a multi-line REPL, where changes automatically get compiled & evaluated upon save. I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get it installed in my Eclipse, though. I already had an older version of Scala IDE installed, and apparently this is a fairly new feature. I tried the latest milestone, which is supposed to have it, but…

Unfortunately the Scala IDE doesn't yet work with Eclipse Juno. Eclipse made a breaking API change. It's a shame they can't provide better backward compatibility; every new Eclipse release seems to break a lot of plugins. https://github.com/scala-ide/scala-ide/pull/145

I got it to work by using the 'nightly build' for Juno

http://scala-ide.org/download/nightly.html#scala_ide_helium_...

Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#52

Post by ericssmith »

sandGorgon wrote: post #25

Curious about something - if you had to do a new project from scratch today on top of the JVM, which language would you choose: clojure, scala, jruby (or anything else). I ask because my brain really cant absorb too many languages, and I want to make some kind of pseudo-optimal choice. I'm not just talking about some shootout here, but about the the next 5 years outlook.

"I ask because my brain really cant absorb too many languages,... the next 5 years outlook."

Well, the early days of computing had domain specific languages, and I'm afraid we are getting back to that. The days of a one-size-fits-all language are over. Your best bet is to learn the principles and then the syntax differences just aren't that troublesome. The problem is that when you are new to programming, you learn only a small subset of those principles, and then are stumped when it is time to pick up a new language because it may rely on new concepts.

In education, Scheme once occupied the role of being the language in which you could learn and investigate a broad range of principles of computation. However, the perceived need for vocational training seems to have pushed Scheme out of the curriculum.

Today, Haskell is the best choice for this role.

Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#53

Post by eranation »

ebiester wrote: post #48
eranation wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want it to be Scala so much as well, I don't want to start learning Go. (Although I heard great things about it, just after learning Scala, I don't want to learn a new language for a few years now)

Outside of the JVM, and for consumer apps, I am starting to think node.js is going to be the winner. It's not there yet. However, as more and more pages go to client-side apps and significant mobile presences, node is building a good enough ecosystem. Working in a single language is nice, though I think the callback system is clumsy. (That's what async or q is for. though I prefer Scala's actor model) It wasn't right…

I think writing one language both server and client is a big yes for node.js, but looking at my client-side code vs my server code (and I'm writing Javascript since 2001, way before I learned Java) I come to the understanding why Google are investing so much in Dart / GWT (which I think are not there yet)

If Scala/Haskell/Go would become more mainstream, and had a very straight forward / magic-free 1:1 conversion to javascript, then node.js will have much less appeal to me.

Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#54

Post by archgoon »

eranation wrote: post #39
sandGorgon wrote: post #25

Curious about something - if you had to do a new project from scratch today on top of the JVM, which language would you choose: clojure, scala, jruby (or anything else). I ask because my brain really cant absorb too many languages, and I want to make some kind of pseudo-optimal choice. I'm not just talking about some shootout here, but about the the next 5 years outlook.

I will choose Play and Scala. Although JRuby/Rails comes as a very, very close second option (simply because all the cool things have a gem, not many have a Play module) But I want to have some sort of static typing to protect me, and as a Java developer, it's where I feel a bit more at home. Clojure is what I'd LIKE to use (with Noir) but I don't have the guts to be honest. If Play had all the community and gems tha…

What would you consider to be some gems that you wish existed for play?

Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#55

Post by psykotic »

dxbydt wrote: post #41
sandGorgon wrote: post #25

Curious about something - if you had to do a new project from scratch today on top of the JVM, which language would you choose: clojure, scala, jruby (or anything else). I ask because my brain really cant absorb too many languages, and I want to make some kind of pseudo-optimal choice. I'm not just talking about some shootout here, but about the the next 5 years outlook.

>>I ask because my brain really cant absorb too many languages, and I want to make some kind of pseudo-optimal choice Am in the same boat. I moved to SF permanently 2 months back, after 15+ years in the east coast. Decided to pick 1 language, immerse myself in it deeply, & then start the interview circuit. The opposite approach would be to pick a bunch of languages ( ruby, python, jquery/coffeescript etc. ) and get a…

> reverse a list without mutation using a foldLeft

This is maybe a little too obvious if you understand left folding at all. A less trivial exercise in the same vein is to implement right folding via left folding. It's just a one-liner, but if you haven't tried it before, it's enlightening and worth giving a shot.

Re: Functional Programming Principles in Scala starts today

#57

Post by exolab »

liberatus wrote: post #15
exolab wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame on you.

It's ironic. This is exactly the behavior that the system seems to want to avoid, but inevitably incentivizes. So shame on him? I don't know. Major props for being honest. One could argue you were subconsciously influenced toward posting a shaming comment because of the karma incentive. Of course, you may just be joking as well. It's certainly funny either way.

I don't really care about Karma on this site (mine or other people's). If I did I certainly would have checked this comment earlier ;)

If people post for Karma instead of for content, IMHO it is their problem. It won't make the site much better, but it won't make it much worse, either.

"Shame on you" was my way of saying "who cares?".

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