Functional principles come together in GraphQL at React Rally

Sometimes multiple pieces of the industry converge on an idea fromdifferent directions. This is a sign the idea is important. Yesterday I spoke at React Rally (video coming later) about theconfluence of React and Flux in the front end with functionalprogramming in the back end. Both embody principles of composition, declarativestyle, isolation, and unidirectional flow … Read moreFunctional principles come together in GraphQL at React Rally

Limitations of Abstraction, and the Code+Coder symbiosis

Notes from #qconnewyorkI went into programming because I loved the predictability of it. Unlike physics, programs were deterministic at every scale. That’s not true anymore – and it doesn’t mean programming isn’t fun. This came out in some themes of QCon New York 2014. In the evening keynote, Peter Wang told us we’ve been sitting … Read moreLimitations of Abstraction, and the Code+Coder symbiosis

Left to right, top to bottom

TL;DR – Clojure’s threading macro keeps code in a legible order, and it’s more extensible than methods. When we create methods in classes, we like that we’re grouping operations with related data. It’s a useful organizational scheme. There’s another reason to like methods: they put the code in an order that’s easy to read. In … Read moreLeft to right, top to bottom

Idempotence in math and computing

“Idempotent” is a big word. It’s one of the four-dollar words thrown around by functional programmers, and it confuses people — including functional programmers. This is because we don’t use it consistently. In math, idempotence describes only unary functions that you can call on their own output. Math-idempotence is, “If you take the absolute value … Read moreIdempotence in math and computing

Twisting the rules of logic in our code

In philosophy, there are very few things that can’t be doubted. The basic laws of logic are among them. There’s one that seems completely obvious and indisputable to normal people: Law of Identity: Everything is identical to itself. In my audiobook, the professor is going on about how not only is this statement true in … Read moreTwisting the rules of logic in our code