Functional programming - Re: NetBSD's i386 support, was Re: [cctalk] Old UNIX Systems

For some problems and programmers. They are unmitigated disasters in other cases. Functional programming is particularly bad at event loops that mutate state based on external input; doing such a thing basically requires reinventing variables in a way that jumps through the hoops necessary to make it fit the rather Procrustean FP bed. FP is an important tool, both for the sake of the tasks it _is_ a good fit for and for the sake of the mind expansion learning it produces (in those who do manage to get their heads around it). But to dogmatically declare it an advance in pretty much any task-independent practical metric is to drink some rather unrealistic ivory-tower koolaid. Of course, the same is equally true of pretty much any programming paradigm; FP is very far indeed from being alone in this respect. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B