Functional Programming: Failed Successfully
summary
Argues that Haskell demonstrates a Haskell Superiority Paradox: deep theory and features did not produce industrial adoption, while languages like Go and Rust overdeliver. Lists concrete tooling success and failure: GHC, Stackage, Hackage, Stack, Cabal, HLS exist but population and usage decline over ~30 years. Notes widespread uptake of FP ideas across JavaScript, C++, Java, C# and claims the community’s idealism, documentation style, and social dynamics — not lack of technical merit — block mainstream projects from being built and adopted.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:35Functional programming failed socially
- 5:27Haskell superiority paradox
- 7:38Pure functional decline
- 9:25Idealism in functional communities
- 12:18Functional languages missed growth
- 15:53Functional as math pursuit
- 17:20Pragmatism vs research
- 19:30Era of ideological purity
- 23:07Resentment in functional communities
- 24:52Ideology’s destructive impact
- 25:55Technology is people and values
- 27:59Future of functional programming
- 31:52Pragmatic acceptance of FP
- 32:36Q&A
related talks
51mPragmatism, Puritanism and Functional Programming
01h 28mThe Many Paths Towards Functional Programming Language Adoption
45mFP: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
59mFunctional Programming for Machine Learning Panel
58mSome History of Functional Programming Languages
59mIntroduction to FP Using Haskell (Part 1)
57mType Theory Behind Glasgow Haskell Compiler Internals (Part 1)
57mSome Context for Pure FP Concepts and Style: A Retrospective
