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Why Isn't Functional Programming the Norm? – Richard Feldman

Metosin · talk · Watch on YouTube

Functional programmingProgramming language design

What it is

Richard Feldman argues that functional programming is not the norm largely because of historical accidents, such as C++ popularity, platform exclusivity, marketing spend and network effects, rather than merit. He traces the history of how languages become mainstream.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN treats it as the standard answer to why FP isn't mainstream and why languages succeed.

  • 12 people recommended it
  • 12 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Fascinating talk.”

    Answers why FP isn't mainstream: historical inertia and chance.

    seer, 2020-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Functional programming in C++ (2012)”

  2. “This talk by Richard Feldman is an excellent discussion about why Functional Programming is not the norm”

    Excellent discussion of why FP is not the norm.

    yewenjie, 2021-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Functional programming is not popular because it is weird (2016)”

  3. “I recommend watching it for some interesting talk about programming languages in general”

    Interesting talk about programming languages in general.

    quickthrower2, 2019-10 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Why are private/hidden methods so popular in OOP APIs?”

  4. “Richard Feldman puts up a (well founded IMO) argument that OO became accidentally popular because of C++.”

    Argues OOP became popular accidentally because of C++.

    fulafel, 2019-11 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Why is functional programming not more popular?”

  5. “Spoiler: not on the basis of merits.”

    Argues FP is not the norm for reasons other than merit.

    huy-nguyen, 2019-12 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Best Talks of 2019?”

  6. “There's a great talk on why functional programming is not the norm”

    Explains FP's lack of adoption through network effects and platform exclusivity.

    agentultra, 2020-01 · Recommendation · in “Haskell Problems for a New Decade”

  7. “This video gives some plausible explanations as to why imperative programming is more common than functional”

    Plausible explanations for why imperative programming is more common than functional.

    blunte, 2020-12 · Recommendation · in “Casey Muratori on getting rid of OOP mindset [video]”

  8. “I learned in that talk, among other things that Oracle spent $500 million to promote and market Java.”

    Learned that Oracle spent $500 million promoting Java.

    rg111, 2021-09 · Recommendation · in “Functional programming is not popular because it is weird (2016)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: functional programming, oop, language adoption, network effects, elm

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