Functional programming is not popular because it is weird (2016)
Some of the weirdness is so completely avoidable that it frustrates me, but languages and libraries dig in on ‘you get used to it.’ I’m talking about the f(g(h(x))) vs x | h | g | f. Right to left chains of functions seem more popular than chains of pipes in FP, but even being someone who has drunk the kool-aid deeply, I always prefer pipes.<p>‘Take the pan out of the over once it’s been in for 30min, where the pan contains a folded together eggs and previously mixed flour and sugar’ isn’t more FP than ‘Mix the flour with the sugar, then combine with eggs, then fold together, then put it into the oven, then take out after 30min.’ But people new to it so often think it’s an FP thing for no good reason. It’s a new user issue that ought to be totally fixable as a community.<p>FP has enough great ideas that I’d recommend everyone learn pure functional solutions just to put into their tool belt, but it’s absolutely true that getting up to speed is harder than it needs to be. My hot take: it won’t be really mainstream until someone figures out how to make dependent types really ergonomic, which seems a long way away.