My first experience with functional programming was at university. I was a 20-year-old geek who was interested in Sci-Fi, reading, and programming; programming was the highlight of my academic life. Everything to do with C++, Java, MATLAB, and a few other programming languages that we used was fun for me. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about the disciplines around electrical engineering, circuits, or compiler theory. I just wanted to write code!
Based on my interests, functional programming should have been a very fun course for me. Our teacher was very passionate. We had to write code. But something went wrong—I didn't click with what the teacher was telling us. Why were lists so interesting? Why was the syntax so backward and full of parentheses? Why would I use these things when it was much simpler to write...
