I think it's Rust's type system that tricks some people into thinking it's a functional language. But it's just not, really it's not.
@jimblandy what is your definition of "functional language", especially in terms of capabilities?
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@wycats So, contrary to how I used the term initially: "functional" works better as the name of a style than as a property of a language. -
@wycats The functional style doesn't ask readers to think about the locations values occupy. Object identity not interesting; deep equality. -
@wycats If I write a CPU model in pure ML, and then write series of CPU-level operations, that's !functional: reader must think about addrs. -
@wycats So the Q is: How well does a language and its ecosystem support the functional style? Rust supports it poorly. (Fine by me.) -
@wycats Why care at all? B/c RFC discussions often suggest "good match for functional style" as criterion for judging proposed features. -
@wycats But perhaps I should have noticed that both on Twitter and in RFCs, "functional" generates quite a lot of heat per illumination. -
@jimblandy linear(ish) types solve a fundamentally functional problem without sacrificing performance. - 8 more replies
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