Functional programming talks

I am a host of Fun(c) group in Bellevue, WA, USA. It’s a meetup for programmers of all levels to learn about functional programming (FP).We welcome all functional languages including (but not limited to) Scala, Erlang, Haskell, Clojure, F#. We are also interested in technologies associated with FP like reactive programming, message passing architectures, the actor model, etc.

If you are curious about FP join us: meetup.com, Youtube, **@**fun_c_

The group meetings are on the 2nd Thursday every month, we are broadcasting our sessions so you’ll have an opportunity to watch it live and ask questions to speakers!

We started our journey in April this year and I would like to summarize what talks we had so far.

April — Why do Functional Programmers always talk about Algebra(s)? — Adam Rosien

In this talk we’ll learn about what an algebra is, why functional programmers talk about them constantly, and how you can use them in your projects. Algebras *are* structure, and we’ll talk about their various forms: algebraic data types, F-algebras, object algebras, and more!

**@**arosien

May — a Functional Startup with Clojure — Derek Slager

Amperity began its life just a little over two years ago, with the ambition to grow to a large and successful company powered by functional programming at the core. Derek will explain the rationale for using Clojure specifically, and where functional programming can (and can’t) help as a startup company grows rapidly.

@derekslager

May — Functional Programming with Effects — Rob Norris

The foundation of functional programming is values, pure functions, and function composition; but this lean model of computation seems to abandon real-world concerns such as partiality, exceptions, logging, mutable state, and so on. This talk introduces FP from first principles and demonstrates how we recover the expressiveness of imperative programming without sacrificing the benefits of equational reasoning, via effects.

**@**tpolecat

June — Free Monoidal Functors — Bartosz Milewski

In functional programming we neatly organize data into algebraic data types and use functors to create parameterized types. Of special interest are functors that are compatible with the algebra of types. Applicative functors, also known as lax monoidal functors, are compatible with the monoidal part of this algebra. Lists, which are free monoids, can be considered skeletons for interpreters, which we call folds. Free monoidal functors are skeletons for effectful interpreters.

**@**BartoszMilewski

July — FP to the Max — John De Goes

What happens when you take a procedural program riddled with partial functions and effects, and incrementally refactor it to a purely functional program — and then dial it up to eleven? In this live coding session, John hopes you’ll be amused and a maybe little terrified as he shows you where pure FP leads on one of the simplest programs possible, pointing out both the benefits and the costs of pure functional programming, and giving you an appreciation for how functional programming techniques scale to and deliver the most benefit in very large teams and very large applications.

**@**jdegoes