I'm an extreme newbie to cells and have just begun reviewing the literature so this may be a FAQ, but in general how does cells relate to "functional" programming practice? My first reaction is that is seems antithetical, as it inherently introduces state and eliminates referential transparency. However if one looks at it as a declarative approach in making statements about relations, perhaps not. maybe it can therefore be used in a functional style along the same lines as standard clos/mop, which can also be considered stateful if evaluated at the level of the individual sub protocols etc.
Really my question is "is cells something one should consider if otherwise one has worked hard to achieve functional style practices?" ---- Replace the method the carefully chosen name deletes the comment
Hi -
Am 18.03.2012 um 19:20 schrieb Dan Lentz:
I'm an extreme newbie to cells and have just begun reviewing the literature so this may be a FAQ, but in general how does cells relate to "functional" programming practice? My first reaction is that is seems antithetical, as it inherently introduces state and eliminates referential transparency. However if one looks at it as a declarative approach in making statements about relations, perhaps not. maybe it can therefore be used in a functional style along the same lines as standard clos/mop, which can also be considered stateful if evaluated at the level of the individual sub protocols etc.
Really my question is "is cells something one should consider if otherwise one has worked hard to achieve functional style practices?"
I don't know. I am answering questions like this for myself like: If it fits your needs then use it. If it doesn't, well, then don't use it. I, personally, didn't find anything non-functional in Cells the way I use it.
Cheers Frank
On 3/18/2012 2:20 PM, Dan Lentz wrote:
I'm an extreme newbie to cells and have just begun reviewing the literature so this may be a FAQ, but in general how does cells relate to "functional" programming practice? My first reaction is that is seems antithetical, as it inherently introduces state and eliminates referential transparency. However if one looks at it as a declarative approach in making statements about relations, perhaps not. maybe it can therefore be used in a functional style along the same lines as standard clos/mop, which can also be considered stateful if evaluated at the level of the individual sub protocols etc.
Really my question is "is cells something one should consider if otherwise one has worked hard to achieve functional style practices?"
I think you have it about right: Cell rules are nicely declarative and generally functional, but in the end Cells is all about managing a complex pile of application state representing <whatever real-world system we are modelling>. So, for example, the RoboCells implementation kept its own internal model of the game, with players and the ball modelled as CLOS instances. This model got updated as new sensory inputs were received. Sounds like "state" to me. :) That said, I imagine even functional programmers have to deal with long-lived models so maybe ....a monad? Sorry, I wish I knew more about the functional game.
One thought that crosses my mind is Clojure with its functional state (if I have that right) and I know some folks over there were playing with implementing something Cells-ish in Clojure. Maybe chack in with those folks for thoughts from folks more functionally inclined than myself.
Replace the method the carefully chosen name deletes the comment
Haha, I always love when during refactoring I come to a comment that is no longer needed because the comment was explaining something the refactoring fixed.
Best, ken
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Dan Lentz -
Frank Goenninger -
Kenneth Tilton