Is functional programming really worth it?
lisper: Yes.  But not as worth it as hard-core advocates of FP like to think.There is really only one difference between FP and traditional imperative programming (which I'll call IP).  In IP you have direct control over where the results of computations are stored and in FP you don't.  This is, of course, a two-edged sword.  Control gives you both power and the ability to screw things up.  Lack of control makes it easier for your compiler to perform certain kinds of optimizations.The reason learning FP is worthwhile is not so much because FP is some kind of magic bullet, but because understanding the tradeoffs between having this kind of control and not having it is worthwhile in and of itself.  If you understand those tradeoffs you will write better code in whatever language you use, even if it's assembler.