No offense but the same could be said about Object Oriented Programming. To me functional languages make a lot more sense, because of the "No side effects" stuff.
Reminds me of a quote from Richard Stallman:
"Adding OOP to Emacs is not clearly an improvement; I used OOP when working on the Lisp Machine window systems, and I disagree with the usual view that it is a superior way to program."
But I also don't consider functional programming harder. I actually do have more problems with (C++/Java/Python style) OO, even though I like it when it is a real language concept, like in Smalltalk and others.
But I am weird. I consider Assembly to be easier (to learn) than C(++) and Perl easier (to read) than most other scripting languages.
I think it is a lot about the way you think. A language has to compensate the things that are hard for you so you can concentrate on the easy stuff. It's a bit like having different tutorials or teachers. There are people that think similar to you while there are other who think very different. It's a common problem in schools. If the teacher thinks in a different way the pupils will have a hard time.
Brother, you are on the money with that statement. But the MINUTE I make a religion out of the way _I_ or a bunch of eclectics uber-geeks think, is the minute you bring about the demise and distaste of that particular paradigm of thinking.
I can relate to the 'way of thinking' better than these stupid religious arguments about FP. Did you know you can program in an OO fashion in C? Or even in Lisp, if you really cared to? You could also write a very 'functional' program in C if you really wanted to.
Why is everything black and white with geeks, is beyond my wildest dreams - but it just points to a lack of mature thinking.
Reminds me of a quote from Richard Stallman: "Adding OOP to Emacs is not clearly an improvement; I used OOP when working on the Lisp Machine window systems, and I disagree with the usual view that it is a superior way to program."
But I also don't consider functional programming harder. I actually do have more problems with (C++/Java/Python style) OO, even though I like it when it is a real language concept, like in Smalltalk and others.
But I am weird. I consider Assembly to be easier (to learn) than C(++) and Perl easier (to read) than most other scripting languages.
I think it is a lot about the way you think. A language has to compensate the things that are hard for you so you can concentrate on the easy stuff. It's a bit like having different tutorials or teachers. There are people that think similar to you while there are other who think very different. It's a common problem in schools. If the teacher thinks in a different way the pupils will have a hard time.