Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

jlongster.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 22 posts

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#3

Post by mcav »

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#4

Post by jlongster »

mcav wrote: post #3

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

I really hope that just because something sounds foreign programmers aren't willing to at least give it a passing glance. New frameworks are going to do things in radically difference ways and we need to be willing to learn.

That said, I easily get turned off by something if it isn't obvious within 10 minutes how it works. This really isn't that complex. I think people who read my post can overcome the weird word once they see how simple it is.

There's a large group of people where it helps to have the clojure connection; I'll keep posting practical examples of how it works and simply teaching. A name is not really that big of a deal.

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#5

Post by lame_duck »

Just by glancing quickly over it it's difficult to draw big conclusions but, while the concept certainly feels promising I'm not sure about API - transduce require 4 parameters and it feels like you really need to know what happens inside to make use of it (that append function feels especially off). But maybe it's just me not being able to switch to functional way and it's simply a matter of spending some time with it (and do some serious work with it).

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#6

Post by mattgreenrocks »

mcav wrote: post #3

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

The name is not at all unfortunate.

But pandering to anti-intellectualism is extremely unfortunate. Irrational fear of new terminology is a major stumbling block to progress. There is a wealth of new things to discover that will require new modes of thinking, new concepts, and new terminology.

If devs wish to remain stagnant in their knowledge and their practice, that's fine. But in doing so, there's no reason why they should offer their opinions on matters they've chosen to ignore. I hope they'd have the intellectual humility to simply listen, rather than contribute noise to the discussion.

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#7

Post by alloyed »

mcav wrote: post #3

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

I'd hope that the same community that takes "concatenation" and "list comprehension" and "mutability" to be household words would be able to get over some jargon weirdness so long as it's explained adequately.

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#8

Post by akurilin »

alloyed wrote: post #7
mcav wrote: post #3

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

I'd hope that the same community that takes "concatenation" and "list comprehension" and "mutability" to be household words would be able to get over some jargon weirdness so long as it's explained adequately.

I'd also add homoiconicity and referential transparency to those :P

Re: Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data

#9

Post by mcav »

jlongster wrote: post #4
mcav wrote: post #3

I think the name "transducers" is a little unfortunate only in that it sounds very foreign to most coders, leading the concept to potentially be ignored. Don't let the name "transducers" or the relation to Clojure scare you off; you don't have to know either thing to understand how transducers can be useful.

I really hope that just because something sounds foreign programmers aren't willing to at least give it a passing glance. New frameworks are going to do things in radically difference ways and we need to be willing to learn. That said, I easily get turned off by something if it isn't obvious within 10 minutes how it works. This really isn't that complex. I think people who read my post can overcome the weird word onc…

Agreed, and kudos for writing so much, so well, about these new paradigms.
Post reply on HN