[Info-vax] DCL Integer Overflow

[Scott Dorsey]

David Froble  <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>> Look at functional languages too, I think they are going to grow in use as side-effects become more and more undesirable going forward
>
>Just so I understand what you're trying to say, just what are you defining as 
>"functional languages"?

Functional programming is pure lambda calculus.  Everything is a function,
all interactions between functions are explicit, there are no global variables
and no side-effects.

The functional paradigm breaks down slightly once you have to communicate 
with anything outside the program such as doing I/O, but pure functional
languages have been promoted, if only as academic curiosities, since the
seventies.

>Perhaps not everyone understands your definitions, and being a bit more specific 
>might help understanding.

The wikipedia entry for "functional programming" is probably a good place to
start.  

I am personally not a fan of purely functional programming languages although
I am certainly a fan of decoupling, avoiding side effects, and thoroughly
documenting side effects that are used.
--scott

-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."