Klumsy Administrator Posts: 1061 From: Port Angeles, WA, USA Registered: 10-25-2001 |
what are peoples experience with and thoughts on functional languages? in a sense all imperative languages are the same in how you can trace through the execution over a timeline (and even in a multithreaded app, with a bit of complexity), this is true from assembler, through typical stuctured languages like basic, pascal, C, through object orientated languages such as java, C++, delphi and C#. In a sense they are all the same, but functional languages follow a completely different mindset and way of thinking about code. what are some functional languages that people know about or have experience in? Karl ------------------ |
CobraA1 Member Posts: 926 From: MN Registered: 02-19-2001 |
Functional languages - I took some classes with them *shivers at the thought*. We made some virtual machines with OCaml (that used, of all things, church numerals to represent data *shivers even more*). In all honesty I never fully understood all the complexities of functional programming. I do a lot better with iterative or OO programming. And I've heard of this thing called "lambda", but a plain English definition seems to elude everybody who writes about it. ------------------ Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here [This message has been edited by CobraA1 (edited February 09, 2005).] |
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Klumsy Administrator Posts: 1061 From: Port Angeles, WA, USA Registered: 10-25-2001 |
hmm caml is quite ugly i think  i'm starting to teach myself Haskell which seems like a good functional language to learn, anybody else here keen to push their boundaries, after finding almost all languages are the same. I'm doing this more for my mind, because i believe functional techniques are very useful (even if tediously implemented in normal imperative languages), and don't like the idea that my mind is set in a particular pattern of problem solving).. here are a couple of good links about haskell http://www.haskell.org/aboutHaskell.html i'm finding it mindblowing, its like stepping outside the matrix, and i'm only scratching the surface, and though the code seemed strange at first, its starting to look quite plain and easy to read.. (though i've gotten used to a mild form of functional program from writing complex SQL queries of hundreds of lines). what i love about functional programming (other than less unexpected bugs) is that you describe in your code what something does, rather than how it does it. with the haskell HUGS intepreter you can play with haskell realtime one line at a time which is a bonus.. Also after i get haskell down pat, i might look at a similar functional language called CLEAN which you can even make games in. anybody curious to take the red pill with me? if so i'll post comments, discoveries and such here as i go. Karl ------------------ |
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
klumsy, you must be smart when it comes to programming and math. i can't even grasp algebra .i think that's my hang up on programming, way too many details and too much complexity. i'm a concept kinda guy. is there anyfield in programming that doesn't require huge amounts of math brain power(variable, algorithms, all that other smart math stuff)? ------------------ www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
Wacko4X Member Posts: 92 From: Bellvue, WA, USA Registered: 08-21-2002 |
quote: Sorry to burst your bubble Benny, but its not very likely. Math is a neccesity to any engineering field (be it software or something else). If you want to make a life career out of programming you had better beef up those math skills with things way past Algebra. I'm currently taking AP Calculus but I've heard there is a better route of math I should take (something to do with algoritms and speeding them up?), I think its called "Linear Algebra" am I right? And would anyone happen to know what exactly that is? |
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bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
maybe i could get into website building? do i need to know advance calculus to make a shopping cart???(please tell me no...) . my cousin is really good at math and logic, he's also interested in programming. i'm more into computer repair/upgrading/modding/overclocking/etc...also into network security(though i don't know a lot). for that stuff i do need to know how it works, but i don't need to be the programmer that makes it work . maybe someday i'll get into the networking field. ------------------ www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |