# Poor man's functional programming

DevFeed: [Poor man's functional programming](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/poor-man-s-functional-programming-21605.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://miqu.me/blog/2015/08/31/poor-mans-functional-programming/>)

Author: Miguel Angel Quiñones

Published: 2015-08-31T20:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Miguel Quinones](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/miguel-quinones.md>)

Topics: [Functional programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/functional-programming.md>), [Swift](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/swift.md>), [Mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mobile.md>), [Object-oriented programming (OOP)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/oop.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>)

Tags: [beginner](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/beginner.md>), [functional-programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/functional-programming.md>), [ios](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ios.md>), [learning](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/learning.md>), [mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile.md>), [oop](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/oop.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [swift](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/swift.md>)

## AI overview

The article encourages iOS and Mac developers familiar with object-oriented programming to explore functional programming through Swift. It discusses the learning barriers, abstract terminology, and gap between toy examples and large projects, while arguing against treating programming paradigms as ideological camps.

## Source excerpt

It's a very exciting time to be an iOS or Mac developer. The platform moves very fast and we got a new toy (language) to play with: Swift. It's the perfect time to reevaluate, learn and evolve as a programmer, because you will be forced to adopt this new language (yes, I think Swift is the future, 100%). I want to relate this to the fact that most iOS engineers, or mobile application developers, are traditionally familiar with Object Oriented Programming paradigm. But Swift offers more than different syntax and OOP. I'm referring to some features inspired by functional languages. If you've ever had an interest, but never the chance or motivation to go forth and look into this paradigm, now it's the perfect time to do it. Functional programming is... I don't want to start reviewing what functional programming is, there are excellent resources out there, check them out. I want to point out how a beginner, somebody who starts learning Functional Programming (FP), might feel: Too abstract Not applicable to my problems For academics What does even 'pure' mean? I need to mutate stuff! Meh, I'll go back to my familiar way of doing things There's a higher barrier of entry to learn how to think and code programs which are more 'functional'. The concepts are abstract, and the benefits are often described as it's more functional without emphasis of what you are actually gaining. Also there's the problem that many times all is explained by simple examples. But every programmer knows there's a huge difference between toy programs and real big projects. Flame wars You'll find engineers and computer scientists that believe that the only and true way of doing things is of course thinking functionally, and we've all been doing it wrong during the last decades. The math is the only source of truth and validity, hence FP is the only way. They've got their very valid reasons to think this way, but my opinion is that many people familiar with FP start to use higher-level vocabulary, and d