Re: [boost] About template metaprogramming and functional programming

From: Jeremy Siek (jsiek_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-07-23 12:36:44

On Sun, 22 Jul 2001, Vesa Karvonen wrote:
>
> It seems to me that much of modern C++ and OO design is reinventing the
> functional programming wheel. STL, for instance, basically offers some very

I wouldn't call it "reinventing the wheel", I'd call it borrowing of good
ideas :) Stepanov was very familiar with functional programming, he wrote
graph algorithms in scheme for many years. The functional aspects of STL
are not accidents, they are deliberate. I would guess that the STL would
look even more functional if C++ had more support for that style of
programming.

As for template metaprogramming and functional languages... yes I agree
that this is a natural fit. After all, the template system *is* a pure
functional language: no assignment, and the main data structure is
cons-style lists.

Cheers,
Jeremy

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 Jeremy Siek                        www: http://www.lsc.nd.edu/~jsiek/
 Ph.D. Candidate, IU B'ton          email: jsiek_at_[hidden]
 Summer Manager, AT&T Research      phone: [phone]
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