I completely agree with your comment regarding functional programming becoming more useful as complexity increases - even the author&#x27;s example is rife with functional programming.  Think about the steps where the flour, baking powder and salt are added to the small bowl.  The act of measuring these ingredients can easily be thought of as a pure function that takes a large amount of a raw ingredient, a measure and returns the correct amount.  I&#x27;m sure there are many examples of pure functions implied but<p>I have to say that I rather like working backwards - yes, a finished cake really is cooled after baking after batter that has been mixed.  If you&#x27;re putting together an engine in your garage you work the same way - nobody rebuilds their carburetor while it&#x27;s mounted on the intake manifold (okay, not many people even have carburetors anymore).  You build &quot;assemblies&quot; and create the larger whole from sub-assemblies.  The same applies to virtually all manufacturing ... I spent a lot of time designing electronic systems that all started by populating circuit boards.