Re:Ask HN: Is the future about functional programming langua...
by jonsterling on Sunday May 06, 2012 @03:25AM
(#3934418)
If by "all the functional idioms" you mean "doing stuff with functions and whatnot", then by all means, recommend JavaScript.
However, once you get done playing with maps and folds, you'll find that there's a whole world of more important things that the functional paradigm gives you. And these depend on types, and referential transparency.
Re:Ask HN: Is the future about functional programming langua...
by ramlijohor on Sunday May 06, 2012 @03:42AM
(#3934455)
agree
Most definitely. Almost every language is incorporating functional idioms and we see more and more code written in a more functional fashion.
> What's the best choice for the functional language one should invest time in learning?
If you're a newbie, I would recommend JavaScript. It's the easiest to pick up and has the best resources out there. You can learn all of the functional idioms in JavaScript and then later learn to apply them elsewhere.
If you're a more seasoned programmer, I would say give them all a test spin and figure out which one you like. I, personally, think Erlang has the most sane syntax, with Scala a close second. Erlang is a bit more powerful, but with Scala you get access to the JVM. I've learned them both, but am able to apply Scala more because the libraries are much more vast.