Neal Ford Functional Thinking Video Samples

Samples featured in Neal Ford's O'Reilly video Functional Thinking.

Functional Thinking

Learning the syntax of a new language is easy, but learning to think under a different paradigm is difficult. This video from renowned software architect Neal Ford helps you transition from a Java-writing imperative programmer to a functional programmer, using Java, Clojure and Scala as examples.

Rather than focus on specific language features, Functional Thinking looks at a variety of common practices in OOP languages and then shows you how to solve the same problems using a functional language. For instance, you know how to achieve code-reuse in Java via mechanisms such as inheritance and polymorphism. Code reuse is also possible in functional languages, using high-order functions, composition, and multi-methods.

Ford encourages you to value results over steps, so you can begin to think like a functional programmer. Expect your mind to be bent, but you’ll finish with a much better understanding of both the syntax and semantics of functional languages. This video is ideal for any experienced programmer.

Table of Contents

• Introduction (35 minutes)
• Gradually Getting Started (41 minutes)
• Functions (29 minutes)
• Laziness (34 minutes)
• Coupling vs. Composition (25 minutes)
• Functional Data Structures (25 minutes)
• Rethinking Dispatch (20 minutes)
• Summary (25 minutes)

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Featured Samples

• Number Classifier
  • Java
    • Imperative
    • Slightly more functional
  • Functional Java
  • Totally Lazy
  • Groovy
  • Scala
  • Clojure
• Closures in Groovy
• Memoization in Groovy
• Lazy Lists in Groovy
• Palindromes
  • Groovy
  • Clojure
• Prime numbers
• Parsing XML in Clojure using Zippers
• Either and Option in Java