Comments on: TeachScheme Workshop at Brown University

By: Hélène Martin

Hélène Martin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:23:19 +0000

Ahh, yes. As Joel Spolsky says, "It’s harder to read code than to write it." But here's the thing, though. I don't usually feel this way about my own procedural code! The idea density in functional programming makes it hard for me to unpack even things I've just written. Again, it may just be that it's still a bit of a foreign language to me.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 07:18:25 +0000

“This may be a failure on my part, but I’ve found it’s almost easier for me to re-write simple functions than to reason through reading them!”

That’s true for most programmers. Most of us would rather tear it all down and build something new than work on something someone else built, because it’s easier, and you don’t have to think as hard. That’s why.

By: TeachScheme teaches principles. What do the rest of us teach? | Hélène Martin

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:01:52 +0000

[...] it taught at hundreds of high schools and colleges. My initial thoughts on the workshop can be read here; I’ve now been reflecting on the material for a few weeks and offer some higher level [...]

By: Motorcycle Repair and the Art of Overcoming Gender Roles | Hélène Martin

Motorcycle Repair and the Art of Overcoming Gender Roles | Hélène Martin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:30:42 +0000

[...] do good design work — typically my girls. This may be where some of what I learned at the TeachScheme workshop will really come in [...]

By: Hélène Martin

Hélène Martin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:23:44 +0000

My favorite measure of language popularity is http://www.langpop.com/. Of course it's not perfect, but I think it gives a pretty good picture. Look at where the functional languages are. If most programmers working these days were trained procedurally, chances are that's what they'll use, no matter the appropriateness. But what happens when we want to start making things parallel? Stateless (an Android app can be killed and restarted at any point)?

By: Anton Vaynshtok

Anton Vaynshtok — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:33:00 +0000

“Functional programming implies certain idioms and ways of thinking about problems. They’re much less typical than procedural idioms.”

Do you have any sources for this? Intuitively I feel that it’s true, but I don’t know if that is only because I (like most programmers of my generation, I think) learned the procedural approach first.