The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Why Functional Programming Matters
Abstract
As software becomes more and more complex, it is more and more important to structure it well. Well-structured software is easy to write, easy to debug, and provides a collection of modules that can be re-used to reduce future programming costs. Conventional languages place conceptual limits on the way problems can be modularised. Functional languages push those limits back. In this paper we show that two features of functional languages in particular, higher-order functions and lazy evaluation, can contribute greatly to modularity. As examples, we manipulate lists and trees, program several numerical algorithms, and implement the alpha-beta heuristics (an Artificial Intelligence algorithm used in game-playing programs). Since modularity is the key to successful programming, functional languages are vitally important to the real world.
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Cites
Milner, R., Harper, R., MacQueen, D., & Tofte, M. (1997) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/2319.001.0001 · Cited by 2,419
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Abelson, H., Sussman, G. J., & Sussman, J. (1985) · Cited by 1,435
Wirth, N. (1988) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-83565-0 · Cited by 896
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hughes, J.
- Venue
- The Computer Journal
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1989-02-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 98-107
- ISSN
- 0010-4620 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2067
- OpenAlex
- W2089241138
- Cited by
- 734
- References
- 3
- FWCI
- 14.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Hughes, J. (1989). Why Functional Programming Matters. The Computer Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/32.2.98
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
