2/15/24, 11:09 PM What is Functional Programming and Why it is Important to Learn?

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Introduction to Functional Programming

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In this current remote work setup, employers have upgraded their standards when it comes to
hiring programmers. They look for individuals who possess the ability to use multiple
functional paradigms to solve business problems. Functional programming has gained
popularity due to its adaptability and efficiency to solve real-world problems. This article will
cover the core concepts and the advantages of functional programming.

Table of Contents
1. What is functional programming?

2. Functional Programming Concepts

2.1. First-class functions

2.2. Recursion

2.3. Immutability

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2/15/24, 11:09 PM What is Functional Programming and Why it is Important to Learn?

2.4. Pure functions

2.5. High order functions

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3. Advantages of functional programming Services

3.1. Easy to debug AI Services Login

3.2. Lazy evaluation

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3.3. Supports parallel programming
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4. Drawbacks of Functional Programming Managed
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4.1. Terminology Problems
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4.2. Recursion Training
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5. Functional programming languages
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6. Conclusion
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What is functional programming?

Functional programming is a declarative programming paradigm style where one applies pure
functions in sequence to solve complex problems. Functions take an input value and produce
an output value without being affected by the program. Functional programming mainly
focuses on what to solve and uses expressions instead of statements. Functional programming
excels mostly at mathematical functions where the values don’t have any correlation and
doesn’t make use of concepts like shared state and mutable data used in object-oriented
programming.

Functional Programming Concepts

Functional programming is built with various core concepts which we will explore below:

First-class functions
First-class functions in functional programming are treated as data type variables and can be
used like any other variables. These first-class variables can be passed to functions as
parameters, or stored in data structures.

Recursion

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2/15/24, 11:09 PM What is Functional Programming and Why it is Important to Learn?

Unlike object-oriented programming, functional programming doesn’t make use of “while” or

”for” loops or “if-else” statements. Functional programs avoid constructions that create
different outputs on every execution. Instead, recursive functions call themselves repeatedly
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until they reach the desired state or solution known as the base case.

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Immutability Create
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In functional programming, we can’t modify a variable after being created. The reason for this
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is that we would want to maintain the program's state throughout the runtime of the program.
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each function to produce Engineering
the same result irrespective of the for
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program's state. This means that when we createJobs Services
a variable and Client
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Pure functions form the foundation of functional programming and have two major properties:

They produce the same output if the given input is the same

They have no side effects

Pure functions work well with immutable values as they describe how inputs relate to outputs
in declarative programs. Because pure functions are independent this means that they are
reusable, easy to organize, and debug, making programs flexibly and adaptable to changes.
Another advantage of using pure functions is memoization. This is when we cache and reuse
the results after computing the outputs from the given inputs.

High order functions

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2/15/24, 11:09 PM What is Functional Programming and Why it is Important to Learn?

A function that accepts other functions as parameters or returns functions as outputs is called
a high order function. This process applies a function to its parameters at each iteration while
returning a new function that accepts the next parameter. Explore
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Advantages of functional programming

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Since pure functions produceDevelopers
the same output as input, this means they aren’t anyfor
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changes or any other hidden output produced. Functional programming functions are Jobs
immutable, this also means that it’s easier to check for errorsManaged
in code faster.
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Lazy evaluation LLM

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Functional programming adopts the lazy evaluation concept, whereby the computations are
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only evaluated the moment they are needed. This gives programs the ability to reuse results
produced from previous computations. AI Services

Supports parallel programming

Because functional programming uses immutable variables, creating parallel programs is easy
as they reduce the amount of change within the program. Each function only has to deal with
an input value and have the guarantee that the program state will remain constant.

Easy to read
Functions in functional programming are easy to read and understand. Since functions are
treated as values, immutable, and can be passed as parameters, it is easier to understand the
codebase and purpose.

Efficient
Since functional programs don’t rely on any external sources or variables to function, they are
easily reusable across the program. This makes them more efficient as there isn’t extra
computation needed to source the programs or run operations on runtime.

Drawbacks of Functional Programming

Terminology Problems

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2/15/24, 11:09 PM What is Functional Programming and Why it is Important to Learn?

Because of its mathematical roots, functional programming has a lot of terminologies that may
be difficult to explain to a layman. Terms like “pure functions” can easily scare off people
looking to learn more about functional programming. Explore Developer
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Recursion AI Services Login

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Although recursion is one of the best features in functional programming, it is very expensive
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to use. Writing recursive functions requires higher memory usage which can be costly.
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Functional programming languages
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Now as you can imagine not all programming languages support programming.
Some languages however were designed to be specifically for functional programming, while
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others do support both functional and object-oriented programming . Below is a list of some of
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these programming languages:
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Haskell - Made specifically for functional programming, Haskell is a statically typed
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programming language. It compiles code faster, is memory safe, efficient, and easier to
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read.

Python - Although python supports functional programming, however, it was designed to

prioritize object-oriented programming first.

Erlang - Although it is not popularly used like Haskell, Erlang is best suited for concurrent
systems. Messaging apps like WhatsApp and Discord make use of Erlang because of its
scalability.

JavaScript - Similar to Python, JavaScript isn't specifically designed for functional

programming. However, functional programming features like lambda expressions and
attributes are supported making JavaScript a top used language among multi-paradigm
languages.

Clojure - Clojure is a functional programming language that provides tools to avoid mutable
states. Although it supports both mutable and immutable data types, it is less strict than
other languages.

Scala - Supporting both functional and object-oriented programming, Scala was designed
to address the shortcomings of Java. It also comes with a built-in static typed system similar
to Haskell.

Conclusion
As we have covered some general core concepts found in functional programming, there is so
much more to be explored. Learning more about functional paradigms can give you the
leverage to use their tools and techniques to solve business problems. This will in turn put you
in a better position when looking for a remote job and increasing your chances of standing out
in the global talent pool. Visit Turing to find out more about our incredible remote job offers.

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