How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#1

Post by mr_mig » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 5:31 PM UTC

How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?
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Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#2

Post by waterlink » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 5:35 PM UTC

I can recommend reading Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby by Sandi Metz to every programmer out there. This is so much important to understand basics of Code Design. Even if you think you will not be doing any functional or object-oriented programming, still, go ahead and read it.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#3

Post by xiaoma » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 8:21 PM UTC

Realm of Racket is a fun and engaging book. It will guide you through making successively more complex and interesting games using a Racket, which is modern and fairly widely used type of Scheme.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#4

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 8:39 PM UTC

I am not sure if this article was a joke or somebody seriously think that functional programming should be learnt by Ruby, JS and Scala. I have learnt much more by using Erlang, Clojure and some parts of OCaml. Learning for just learning programming in general and getting into the most popular languages is a different subject though. If I was to learn FP I would start with Elixir and probably with Racket just to learn a LISP dialect. It is much fun.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#5

Post by unsignedqword » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 8:56 PM UTC

StreamBright wrote: post #4

I am not sure if this article was a joke or somebody seriously think that functional programming should be learnt by Ruby, JS and Scala. I have learnt much more by using Erlang, Clojure and some parts of OCaml. Learning for just learning programming in general and getting into the most popular languages is a different subject though. If I was to learn FP I would start with Elixir and probably with Racket just to lear…

Considering the popularity of JS and Ruby as a first language for many new programmers, I could see the argument that it would be useful in the sense of getting them to understand basic functional concepts in a more familiar environment.

Although, I agree with you: a Lisp (probably Racket or Scheme) is a much better bet for learning the functional style.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#6

Post by runT1ME » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 9:05 PM UTC

StreamBright wrote: post #4

I am not sure if this article was a joke or somebody seriously think that functional programming should be learnt by Ruby, JS and Scala. I have learnt much more by using Erlang, Clojure and some parts of OCaml. Learning for just learning programming in general and getting into the most popular languages is a different subject though. If I was to learn FP I would start with Elixir and probably with Racket just to lear…

The book Functional Programming in Scala is widely regarded as one of the best books on functional programming in any language. It has very little to do with the Scala language and everything to do with how you would write purely functional programs for the real world (file systems, concurrency, etc).

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#7

Post by hcrisp » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 9:14 PM UTC

There is this free ebook on functional programming in Python by O'Reilly: http://www.oreilly.com/programming/free/functional-programmi...

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#8

Post by ekr » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 9:38 PM UTC

I can't recommend CIS 194 (http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~cis194/) enough. After a first weak attempt at learning haskell, following this course did it for me, and I've managed to write some significant haskell programs.

It covers all the fundamental abstractions found in functional programming, and the homework has some close-to-real-life examples that students must do.

5 stars.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#9

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 9:39 PM UTC

runT1ME wrote: post #6

StreamBright wrote: post #4

I am not sure if this article was a joke or somebody seriously think that functional programming should be learnt by Ruby, JS and Scala. I have learnt much more by using Erlang, Clojure and some parts of OCaml. Learning for just learning programming in general and getting into the most popular languages is a different subject though. If I was to learn FP I would start with Elixir and probably with Racket just to lear…

The book Functional Programming in Scala is widely regarded as one of the best books on functional programming in any language. It has very little to do with the Scala language and everything to do with how you would write purely functional programs for the real world (file systems, concurrency, etc).

Sadly you did not reflect to anything I wrote. I bet the Scala book is pretty good, however I would still learn programming from SICP if I just wanted to learn how to write purely functional programs. This is just a matter of taste.

Re: How Do I Learn Some Functional Programming?

#10

Post by StreamBright » Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 9:40 PM UTC

unsignedqword wrote: post #5

StreamBright wrote: post #4

I am not sure if this article was a joke or somebody seriously think that functional programming should be learnt by Ruby, JS and Scala. I have learnt much more by using Erlang, Clojure and some parts of OCaml. Learning for just learning programming in general and getting into the most popular languages is a different subject though. If I was to learn FP I would start with Elixir and probably with Racket just to lear…

Considering the popularity of JS and Ruby as a first language for many new programmers, I could see the argument that it would be useful in the sense of getting them to understand basic functional concepts in a more familiar environment. Although, I agree with you: a Lisp (probably Racket or Scheme) is a much better bet for learning the functional style.

And SICP is a great book. :)