Functional Programming Need in Web Development
Discover why functional programming is essential for modern web development. Learn how immutability and parallel processing solve today's scalability challenges.
Whenever I talk about Functional Programming, people with experience in web development make faces. And seriously, I don't blame them.
The issue is mainly that Functional Programming stays in the background only. If you see any starting example of any functional language, it's mainly some machine learning example or some complicated algorithm example. And that may affect normal people from getting started with Functional Programming.
But functional programming can do far more than that. And that includes simple things too. And I mean it can make things simpler, or I can say it can make easy things simple.
Here, if I have to put a web case here, maybe web is right now the most appropriate place where functional programming can be used. And the reason is damn simple: current web projects are getting bigger and bigger, and the user base is also getting even larger. Now, to support that, hardware is also getting better and better.
Now, the only thing is there is a need for a programming language that can use this kind of hardware. And in this case, Functional Programming comes into the picture, or I must say it is the most suitable.
Because there are many things that are built into the language that help with the situation. If I take one thing, it's immutability. As there are grids of processors, there is a need for multiple objects using the resources in parallel, and there will be a need to manage the state of the objects. With immutability, there will be no state that can be mutated. So, it is very much easy to reason with.
But unfortunately, we don't utilize functional programming that much. And maybe that is the reason we don't know how easy and beautiful things code can be with the use of functional programming.
So, here I will be writing a couple of articles, or maybe a series, to make a case for how useful functional programming can be in the case of web development.
As I am mainly from the .Net background, I'll be talking about F# mostly. But the thing is, functional programming is not limited to that. If anyone is coming from the Java land, Scala is the language for you. And if anyone wants something dynamic and very near to LISP, Clojure is for you.
I try to get a taste of every possible language—a few samples here and there. But things mainly will be for Functional Programming and Web.
Hope that effort counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Functional programming is ideal for today's web projects because it's built to handle the demands of large-scale applications with growing user bases. Key features like immutability make it easier to manage state across multiple processors and parallel operations, which modern hardware can leverage effectively.
Immutability means objects cannot be changed after creation. This is crucial in functional programming because it eliminates state mutation issues, making it much easier to reason about code behavior, especially when multiple processors are accessing resources in parallel.
Popular functional languages for web development include F# for .Net developers, Scala for Java developers, and Clojure for those wanting a dynamic LISP-like language. The choice depends on your background and specific project requirements.
Yes, functional programming can simplify web development by providing built-in language features that reduce complexity in managing state and handling concurrent operations. It makes reasoning about code behavior more straightforward, especially in larger projects.