Why Functional Programming Matters Today by Baishampayan Ghose

Alright we're gonna get started.

Thanks everyone for coming, this is our

first, uh, TechJam session, and it's
a pleasure to have

video here. Uh, Bijeet's been programming

in function languages since 2007,

when he first programmed for GearTrip.

He obviously has a lot of experience of

working with different function languages,

at least two that I can know of,

maybe more, and we thought it would be

a good start of the TechJam to kind of

look at, you know, a different way of

doing things. So, that's why he's here

to come in and do this talk. Also,

I would like to than IDeaS for hosting
this, this is our first

thing and we'll probably do a lot more of

these. So, thanks again and I'll hand it

over to Bijeet.

Thanks

Am I audible?

Should I increase the volume a little bit?

Is it okay? Can everyone hear me, no?

What about now?

Is it okay?

Now?

Okay, good, uh, it's a pleasure being here

at the first TechJam. My name is Bijeet

and I program in many programming
languages, but

mostly functional these days.

So, this is kind of like going to be

a less technical talk. I'm not going to

talk too much about the

theory of functional programming,

or even a specific language in particular.

I'm going to show you some specific

examples in some mainstream languages

or made up languages just to explain

the point. But for you guys, I want

you guys to go home with, kind of like,
some new ideas, a new mind,

and a new inspiration to check out these

things on your own. Because to be honest

an hour or even a day is not enough

to teach or even show you the beauty

of functional programming.

So let's get started.

So the title of the talk is

Why Functional Programming Matters

but more than that, it's:

Why Functional Programming Matters
(today).

Functional programming predates Java,

or it predates your mainstream

programming languages by decades.

Lisp was invented in the late 50's,
early 60's,

and Plankalkül predates Lisp by

10 more years. So it's nothing new,

but so far we have been able to kind of

teach in many ways and get away, uh,

but now these problems,
there are many problems which

are now cropping up and I think it's

time we look at alternatives.

So before I start, a very quick poll:

Which programming languages
do you use at work?

What about Java,
how many people use Java here?

Raise your hand, great!
[laughs]

What about Ruby? Any of you
use Ruby still? One?

Python? Ok, two Python guys.

JavaScript? I'm sure many
people use JavaScript.

Does anyone here use any
functional programming language

[Laughter]
That guy, ok, you too.

You use Scala, right? He uses Clojure.

And another one uses Clojure.

So we do not have any people here who have

any exposure to FP. I think then,
you know, that the talk

is just perfect,
perfectly suited to you guys.

Ok. A little bit about me.
I started my career

having Lisp at ???, 2009.

I personally care a lot about writing code

that's correct and runs fast.

Speed and correctness are two very
important things for me,

and, uh, these are two, kind of like,
driving, well, factors

for me to use any tool or any programming
language.

???

I think I have learned maybe thirty-five
or thirty different programming languages.