48
How useful are functional programming languages? (mander.xyz)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by partner_boat_slug@mander.xyz to c/programming@programming.dev
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I hear they are good, make it easier to maintain code-bases. Most often I reach for python to get the job done. Does anyone have experiences with functional languages for larger projects?

In particular I am interested to learn more on how to handle databases, and writing to them and what patterns they come up with. Is a database handle you can write to not ... basically mutable state, the arch-nemesis of functional languages?

Are functional languages only useful with an imperative shell?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] FizzyOrange@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago

They don't really let you do anything you couldn't do in Python, they just let you write more elegant code.

Personally I find ML-style languages to be difficult to read. They deliberately leave out a lot of the punctuation that makes code readable leading to code that just looks like a stream of words.

Rust is I think the best option here - it steals most of the good ideas from functional programming but has saner syntax.

Also you seem to be conflating pure languages with functional languages. I also made this mistake because Haskell is probably the best known functional language and it's also pure... But they're different things. OCaml is functional and not pure. You can use mutable variables to your heart's content.

TL:DR learn Rust not Haskell or OCaml.

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
48 points (98.0% liked)

Programming

28304 readers
406 users here now

Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!

Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person's post makes sense in another community cross post into it.

Hope you enjoy the instance!

Rules

Rules

  • Follow the programming.dev instance rules
  • Keep content related to programming in some way
  • If you're posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don't want to watch videos

Wormhole

Follow the wormhole through a path of communities !webdev@programming.dev

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
snowe@programming.dev
Ategon@programming.dev
UlrikHD@programming.dev
bugsmith@programming.dev
Spyro@programming.dev