&gt; Stuff like SmallTalk wouldn&#x27;t be possible if programming was turned into math<p>&gt; and frankly I don&#x27;t understand why mathematicians want to take over a completely different domain<p>I would like to challenge the assumption here: that programming (in whatever mode) can&#x27;t be adequately described by mathematics. I don&#x27;t have time to make a thorough argument, but consider this: instead of thinking of what programming would be like as some kind of math, think of what math would need to be like to adequately describe your favourite mode of programming. (Forget arithmetic, consider algebra, geometry.)<p>As for FP: these days it wants all the tools, and it is picking up whatever it can formalize. Some FP tools are uncommon or don&#x27;t work well outside the paradigm. To me that makes all the difference: I&#x27;d feel more restricted working without FP than by being strictly within it.