What do you get when you combine strict functional programming with heavy user interaction?
Challenges, and unexpected freedoms.
Elm is a purely functional language for the browser. It compiles to JavaScript -- after enforcing immutability, types, semantic versioning, and tight boundaries for user and server interactions. Working within these restrictions, I find my programming principles turned upside down. Small components? who needs them. Global state? no problem. New principles emerge instead: events, reproducibility, kindness in times of error. This session gives an overview of Elm, then focuses on the Elm Architecture: how it overturns what is essential in object-oriented and even backend functional programming.
Jessica Kerr "speaks with the authority of an experienced software engineer and the infectious enthusiasm of a 10-year-old telling you about magic." After ten years in Java she discovered the big wider world of programming through F#, Scala, Clojure, and now Elm. She speaks about functional programming, property-based testing, and juggling complexity. In real life, she works on the data pipeline at Stripe and raises two daughters in St. Louis, MO. Find her @jessitron or blog.jessitron.com.
