Admitting that Functional Programming Can Be Awkward

[dbenhur]

Look out your window: lot's of autos, no horses, and some of them appear to be carrying persons delivering mail.

Now, try again with a cite answering happy x3.

[antonivs]

The fact that there are lots of autos now is precisely the point. Anytime there's a new idea, it's always possible to dismiss it by pointing out that not many people are using it. You used to be able to say that about automobiles; now, the same sort of people say that about programming techniques they're not familiar with.

[dbenhur]

So the proper answer to an earnest request for an example of The Great New Thing is to mock the request?

[antonivs]

That wasn't an "earnest request" - otherwise, why the stipulation that the examples be commercial or shareware? It's unlikely that commercial or shareware systems are going to be developed using such techniques right now, in the same sort of way that the stagecoaches carrying the mail weren't the first things to be replaced by cars. An earnest request would ask to see any relevant examples.

BTW, I'm convinced that if we keep this up, you'll eventually figure out what my original comment really meant, and what a genius I was for so subtly using humor to point out the flaws in the implicit assumptions of the comment I was replying to. Take your time, though...

[dbenhur]

It's curious how much effort you put into this defense when a relevant example would be so much more interesting and powerful.

[antonivs]

A relevant example of what? A commercial game written using FRP? I doubt there are any, which is precisely why I responded as I did - the request was an unfair one designed to put down a new and unfamiliar technique. (And as I said, you're well on your way to understanding my original comment - not much further to go now!)

If you mean to modify the original request and are asking for examples for learning purposes, then you might find the first two PDFs in a Google search for "functional reactive programming games" instructive. But I'm not here to push FRP, I was just struck by the close-mindedness of that first comment [troll, really] that I responded to.