Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs vs Professor Frisby's Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Programming
When comparing Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs vs Professor Frisby's Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Programming, the Slant community recommends Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs for most people. In the question“What are the best resources to introduce programming students to Functional Programming?” Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs is ranked 1st while Professor Frisby's Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Programming is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs is:
This isn't a book you'll glean direct practical tidbits out of, an introduction to not only functional programming but how to think in a paradigm outside the usual way C*/Python/Ruby/Java/etc... are coded. Even if you wind up never working in Scheme or any other primarily functional language, the tactics and thought processes you'll learn here will apply to any currently-evolving language to a greater or lesser degree. You'll be able to map your thought process into the paradigm that works best for your current situation and not just be forced into a limited set of idioms that causes unnecessary boilerplate and clunky code mangling.
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Pros
Pro Knowledge can be applied to any language
This isn't a book you'll glean direct practical tidbits out of, an introduction to not only functional programming but how to think in a paradigm outside the usual way C*/Python/Ruby/Java/etc... are coded.
Even if you wind up never working in Scheme or any other primarily functional language, the tactics and thought processes you'll learn here will apply to any currently-evolving language to a greater or lesser degree. You'll be able to map your thought process into the paradigm that works best for your current situation and not just be forced into a limited set of idioms that causes unnecessary boilerplate and clunky code mangling.
Pro Teaches very important programming concepts
Like closures and encapsulation without language support of objects.
Pro Very good for absolute beginners
This book gives a great insight about immutable and mutable state (with pros and cons), typisation, FP, OOP, and many other things in a very beginner-friendly manner
Pro Covers a wider range of topics than many books
Pro Free
It's available free on Github.
Pro Can submit pull requests to suggest improvements
You can submit issues to suggest improvements, or submit pull requests.
Thanks to it being open source, it's constantly being improved and updated.
Pro Uses JavaScript
JavaScript is popular, ubiquitous, and has the necessary power to teach core concepts.
Cons
Con Shortage of real world examples
There are very few non-trivial examples given in the book.