Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.functional
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.sprintlink.net!pipex!uunet!allegra!alice!ark
From: ark@research.att.com (Andrew Koenig)
Subject: Re: is state bad?
Message-ID: <D15z3F.HnD@research.att.com>
Organization: Software Engineering Research Department
References: <3d8p4q$7eh@nkosi.well.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 1994 14:04:27 GMT
Lines: 24
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.scheme:11634 comp.lang.functional:5434

In article <3d8p4q$7eh@nkosi.well.com> amyc@well.sf.ca.us (Amy Caplan) writes:
> I think I have encountered a viewpoint that local state is bad,
> presumably because it makes programs more difficult to understand
> and debug.  (e.g. violating the notion of "referential transparency").

> This would seem to be in conflict with the "object oriented" trend, 
> which often encourages local state.

> 1. Is this my imagination, or is this really a widely shared viewpoint?

It is not your imagination.

Conceptually, I view things this way:

	Pure object-oriented programming: everything is an
	object, even your program.

	Pure functional programming: everything is a
	program, even your data.

Sort of like yin vs. yang, I guess.
-- 
				--Andrew Koenig
				  ark@research.att.com
