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by fmihaila 3354 days ago
Not to be glib, but maybe you're reading the wrong books. Someone did explain it clearly and in a way that resonates with people that have not programmed in a functional paradigm. As an example, the link below [1] (which has been posted here to death), explains things very clearly, provided one has the patience to read it carefully and do the exercises.

It's true, though, that one will not necessarily, as you put it, 'immediately "get" all aspects of it'. Many things worth learning, this one included, require a bit more diligence. As Euclid famously explained, there is no royal road to functional programming.

[1] https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html

1 comments

I find your reference (which I had not seen, though you state it has been posted to death) superlative.

It requires patience but I think I will work through it.

Although it serves as a counterexample (so that the strictest form of my argument, that some people know fp but nobody has explained it, therefore it is not true that to know something is to be able to explain it ... this strict argument does not work as it has a counterexample), still, other similar forms of my argument could stand. After all, not everone who knows fp can write such a resource.

Anyway, it really does seem to be far and away better than others that are posted or offered, usually. I have not completely read it but my subjective opinion of it is very good. Thanks for the link!

Any progammer, certainly anyone with a CS degree, really ought to be aware of, if not familiar with SICP. And yes, it's mentioned on HN almost daily:

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=sicp&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0...