5 Myths and Truths of AI for Business
Watch for Misinformation and Overstatements Over the last few years, mentions of artificial intelligence (AI)
There are so many programming languages out there that we need some sort of classification for them. Of course, the tech community has plenty of classifications for them but one of the most widely used involves programming paradigms.
A programming paradigm is basically a way to classify languages depending on their features. Thus, some paradigms focus on the implications of their execution models, while others are more about the code’s organizations or the syntax and grammar styles.
There are several programming paradigms out there but probably the most widely known is object-oriented programming. OOP is so popular that people who have a very tangential relationship with the programming world surely have heard about it.
The reason for that popularity? OOP has modularization for easier troubleshooting, allows for code reuse through inheritance, boasts flexibility through polymorphism, and is great for problem-solving. Some of the biggest languages in the world support object-oriented programming, including Java, C++, Python, and JavaScript.
However, OOP isn’t the best solution for every development problem. That’s precisely when functional programming comes into play.
Functional programming is a paradigm through which developers write programs using a combination of pure functions, which are developed in such a way that they don’t have side effects (more on that later).
If the word “functions” reminds you of math, that’s because functional programming evolved from lambda calculus, a formal system for expressing computations based on function abstraction.
It’s worth noting that functional programming is part of a broader programming category called “declarative programming” (opposed to “imperative programming,” which is the most widely supported paradigm in programming).
According to that classification, functional programming is declarative because it uses math functions that don’t care how the language or program performs the task. However, it’s important to mention that the most popular languages are often multi-paradigm. The few specialized functional languages include Haskell, Scala, and Ocaml.
To truly understand what functional programming is all about, it’s important to define some of its key concepts. We’ve already mentioned pure functions but we also have to dive into terms like “recursion” and “immutability” to completely grasp what functional programming can provide you.
Functional programs don’t use just any function, but rather pure functions. A math function is considered to be pure if it meets 2 criteria:
Pure functions work independently from everything outside of them, especially states. That means that they don’t rely on variables that are outside.
Since functional programming uses pure functions (which don’t have side effects) it can’t use popular iterative techniques like the for or while loops. That’s because using them would mean using mutable states—which are side effects. So, to perform iterative tasks, functional languages use recursion.
In recursion, a function doesn’t need states because it employs ready-only arguments and write-only return values. Thus, recursion has a function running repeatedly until it reaches its base case.
In functional programming, first-class functions can be used like any other value. In other words, you can use first-class functions to create function arrays, use them as arguments for other functions, and even store them in variables for later use. This is necessary for ensemble programs in functional programming.
Higher-order functions are also essential for building programs in functional programming. These functions are closely related to first-class functions, as both allow functions as arguments and results of other functions. But they aren’t the same, because higher-order functions take at least one first-class function as a parameter (or return one first-class function as a result), while first-class functions are treated like variables or objects.
Functional programming relies on immutable objects to get things done. An immutable object is one whose state can’t be modified after its creation—it’ll be forever in the state in which you built it. What’s important about this is that immutable objects don’t generate side effects (i.e., they don’t change their state over time). Given that they don’t have side effects, they are perfect for functional programming.
Immutability is critical for functional programming because it makes the code simple, testable, and ready for multithreaded systems. That’s because objects don’t change over time, which means that you can easily spot the ones causing bugs or use them in any thread you like without having to worry about breaking other threads.
Even when object-oriented programming is highly popular, developers know that functional programming can provide them with advantages no other paradigm could give them. Some of the most notable ones include:
The best thing about functional programming is that you don’t have to ditch other programming paradigms to enjoy all these benefits. That’s because functional principles are present in many non-functional languages, which makes it easier to enjoy these advantages. Of course, you can always go for a purely functional language to boost the benefits, but, in practice, it’s fairly pointless to do so.
While functional programming advocates might have you believe that it’s a flawless paradigm, the reality is that it has some issues. First and foremost, pure functional programming is very hard to find in practice, mainly because developers often have to resort to other paradigms to get their programs to do what they want. And then, there are some other issues, including:
As it happens with any programming paradigm, any expert will tell you that you can use functional programming for virtually anything you want. And that’s true to some extent! In fact, functional programming is so strict and its programs are so robust that anyone working on a project with zero tolerance for bugs should use it. Arguably, all projects could benefit from the best possible quality, but using the functional approach also means that the development team takes a lot of time to get the application right.
In light of the above, it’s important to pick the right projects to use functional programming. Given the lack of tolerance for bugs, this paradigm is perfect for systems for which a bug could bring disastrous consequences, such as navigational systems or financial platforms.
Generally speaking, functional programming is great for projects that fall into some of the following groups:
It’s important to say one final thing about using functional programming. While you can definitely tackle most projects with it, you should study the viability of doing so (even for the tasks mentioned above). Why? Because there are other factors that come into play when selecting a programming paradigm, including infrastructure, libraries and resources, maintenance, and developers with knowledge of said paradigm.
All in all, functional programming and its related languages are nothing but tools at your disposal that you can use when it’s more convenient. You don’t have to choose one over the other, as different projects call for different solutions. Don’t know if functional programming applies to your project? Contact BairesDev and let our experts help you!
Watch for Misinformation and Overstatements Over the last few years, mentions of artificial intelligence (AI)
Different approaches to organize the software development process As anyone who has ever tackled a
A Mindset in Practice The Agile Manifesto was introduced in 2001, and with it came
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