[Haskell-cafe] Re: Why functional programming matters

[Don Stewart]

catamorphism:
> On 1/23/08, Peter Hercek <phercek at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Other things did not seem that great for me from the beginning. For
> > example: referential transparency - just enforces what you can take care
> > not to do yourself
> 
> ...if you never make mistakes, that is.
> 
> > (e.g. in C# you just cannot be sure some function is
> > referentially transparent even when comment claims so - which of course
> > sucks because programmers are not disciplined).
> 
> But if that's the point you're trying to make, I agree that a lot of
> programmers seem to think they don't make mistakes, and thus might not
> be receptive to the siren song of referential transparency :-)
> 

Yes, we have to talk more about it making the job "faster and easier",
than "safer". It's a particular kind of programmer that likes things to
be safer (i.e. people on this list :), but all kinds want their job
to be faster and easier :)

-- Don