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by tree_of_item 3174 days ago
Excellent, I've actually been working on something similar and I'm glad to see it validated.

As I expected though, most people in this thread don't get it, which is understandable since it's pretty out there compared to the mainstream. I think they will once larger, "real" programs are written.

I don't think I'm gonna be able to "reword" this for people here so it suddenly clicks, you're probably just going to need to see it in action to understand it.

2 comments

I don't think I'm gonna be able to "reword" this for people here so it suddenly clicks, you're probably just going to need to see it in action to understand it.

So called "visual" programming languages like LabVIEW and Visual Basic seem to come very close. There's a supervisory program that manages and parses inputs, and schedules the invocation of functions when those inputs change. I'm not sure what those programs do with the outputs of functions is exactly what the author proposes, but you could let the supervisory program route the outputs of functions to their desired effects.

Definition of the expected input format and its interpretation, and likewise for the output format, would presumably be done in some meta-programming language.

My Visual Basic programs contained little or no input/output code, until I started using VB to control industrial machines.

Why don't you describe a "real" program that uses this approach so we can see the benefit?
Giving ~precise and practical example can be suprisingly hard when you are working with some very different kind of thinking for a long time. At the end idea should be used in real world of course but it can take a lot of time to recreate lot of solutions which are resolved in mainstream but "reopened" in your world.

I think this article is quite clearly just reprsenting idea for people working with functional side and maybe thinking something similiar already. So if you "cannot get it" and author cannot give ~easy answer don't judge yourself or the idea/author too much but accept that idea can be still very early phase and work-in-progress.

I just don't understand what's funktional or novel about this. That's why I asked for an example that could illustrate it. The good thing is that the author has no obligation to listen to me so let's see where this ends up.
Yep, that's exactly what I should do. My stuff is not ready to show off yet but I'll be happy to make an HN post once it's ready.

In the meantime, Dhall is much further ahead, so you could check out more of Gabriel's stuff if you need more convincing.