----------------------------------------------------------- New Message on cochindotnet
----------------------------------------------------------- From: spark Message 4 in Discussion functional programming varies from imperative programming by one fundamental difference - functional programs do no change the state of teh machine that they run on (describing a machine as a finite state machine). In simpler words functional languages are more mathematic in nature. in math i = i +1 is an invalid statement. 'i' is expected to have a value, that value as such does not change - in imperative languages 'i' is a variable that represents a memory location. and since it is a location in memory it can hold different values in time. thus there is a change of state. a functional programming language is centerred around the concept of constant values and functions that oprate on the values that return other values.. these values chowever cannot be back-assigned to any of the 'variables' beacuse functional languages dont have variables. now this is radical change from teh way the current clr is implemented if you think about it. the clr is implemented for stack based imperative programming. like c/cpp/cs/java/jscript/vb..... ILX was one of the projects in MSR to try extend the CLR to have primitives that will enable a functional behaviour. both of these streams of programming are mostly mutually exclusive (other than languages like scheme/ocaml/turbo-prolog etc that give you imperative extentions to the basic functional design) so it is a rather intersting piece of work. also there in the unversity circuit, ML is an increasing popular language for work in advanced compiler theory, stack-walkers and the sort, so it would be not much surprise that they chose a ML dervied language for their work. i just went through the article that the rakesh referred to. somehow the author is writing with teh attyitude that ms is expcted to put out more material and behave in certain ways trearting f# as though it is slated for getting into production. msr generally hosts most of the research by ms and is simply provided free in the spirit of sharing information and ideas and is not really mean to be the kind of supported intitaitve that he makes it sound .. hmmm. do go to the rosh ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it arrives, go to your E-mail Settings. http://groups.msn.com/cochindotnet/_emailsettings.msnw Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go to Passport Member Services. http://groups.msn.com/_passportredir.msnw?ppmprop=help For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us page. http://groups.msn.com/contact If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the "Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing list. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
