[2-718-281-828]

is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest or more due to keywords like "pure", "functional", "data" and "structure"?

[paulgb]

I can’t speak for everyone, but I upvoted it from nostalgia, having read the book version over a decade ago. I happened to be thinking about ordering a copy for the office just yesterday.

[dllthomas]

I have a copy on my desk. The bit about designing data structures by analogy to number systems (and limiting carry propagation) is really fun.

[ufo]

It is is still the go-to textbook for immutable data structures. Worth the read.

[schaefer]

This comment reads as if there is a clear, contemporary successor for learning pure functional data structures.

Is there? If so, please do share a reference.

[jstrieb]

I've recently used a number of structures that I learned from this book. Though I don't know if the text represents the state of the art in purely functional data structures, it's a pretty seminal work in the area.

[UncleMeat]

Nowhere near the state of the art. Lots of improvements since this was published.

It is a good book for learning. It is a decent book for reference. When you want to really fly you will want to reach for more recent work.

[hardlianotion]

Examples of more recent work for us non-specialists?

[nequo]

See the commenter here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36125110

[hardlianotion]

Missed it - thanks

[bradrn]

> is this being upvoted onto the homepage based on upvoters actually understanding that this paper from 1996 is of contemporary relevance and interest …?

In my case, yes.

[turtleyacht]

The book is on Amazon, but this submission had those keywords, plus it's a PDF.

Of course it is of contemporary relevance; functional programming (FP) is all the rage.

The tricky bit are questions like

How does this jive with existing JS functional constructs like "fantasy land," for example.

How to "recruit" more folks to FP, or even a hybrid approach of objects interacting functionally

Game jams using more FP-like data structures? Or more HN submissions like that.

The harder things to evaluate are a lot of other topics, news-like but investigative and curious, or sites that are essentially selling a service (versus teaching the mechanism behind it).

For SaaS stuff, since HN is about startups, I have to let it slide. But the hacking piece is when one person accomplishes something with persistent decomposition of sequential problems, or does something clever using tools or ideas from a different context.

[solomatov]

My understanding is that the book is based on this PhD dissertation.

[turtleyacht]

Oh.. then, yes--this was unabashedly a (positively) triggered reaction (fortunately or unfortunately).

[bluepod4]

Your comment is giving early 2010s hipster “you probably never heard of it” vibes.