How functional programming mattered
Review article, 2015

In 1989 when functional programming was still considered a niche topic, Hughes wrote a visionary paper arguing convincingly 'why functional programming matters'. More than two decades have passed. Has functional programming really mattered? Our answer is a resounding 'Yes!'. Functional programming is now at the forefront of a new generation of programming technologies, and enjoying increasing popularity and influence. In this paper, we review the impact of functional programming, focusing on how it has changed the way we may construct programs, the way we may verify programs, and fundamentally the way we may think about programs.

functional languages

functional programming

equational reasoning

high order function

monad

Author

Z. J. Hu

Research Organization of Information and Systems National Institute of Informatics

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)

John Hughes

Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Software Technology (Chalmers)

M. Wang

University Of Kent

National Science Review

20955138 (ISSN) 2053714x (eISSN)

Vol. 2 3 349-370

Subject Categories

Software Engineering

DOI

10.1093/nsr/nwv042

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