“Functional” Programming?

Many programming paradigms have come and gone. Is Functional Programming here to stay? Or is it just another fad?

Most things in the world of programming are simply tools. Programming languages are tools. Frameworks and libraries are tools. Even programming paradigms like Object Oriented Programming are also tools.

Functional Programming has been becoming more and more popular in the recent years. Where does it fit in the picture? Is it simply another tool, or something much bigger? Perhaps even a silver bullet that will solve all of our problems?

Let’s find out!

What is a silver bullet?

What is the definition of a silver bullet? It is something that can be used to solve all of our problems. Is mathematics a silver bullet? If anything, it comes very close to being a silver bullet.

We owe it to the thousands of extremely intelligent men and women who worked hard for millennia to give us mathematics. Euclid, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Isaac Newton, Leonhard Euler, Alonzo Church, and many many others.

It is extremely fortunate that mathematics is extremely predictable. 2 + 2 will always be equal to 4, no matter what.