more-expressive-programs.md

Writing more expressive code

Part 1

Leslie Lamport, future of computing

JavaScript

• write strip questionmark
• write parse query string
• try to print the city of the passed user

TypeScript

• add TypeScript
• fix errors

PureScript

• split string on char
• discovering edge cases
• expressing what we learned

Python (bonus)

Part 2 Star diagram, code expressiveness.

• concise (information dense, saying much with little, compound meaning, highly abstract)
• precise (ability to express one thing which is not another thing)
• ??? (one way to say a thing)
• powerful (not-turing compleness, ease with which to enact large state effects)
• clarity?
• readability?

Some language concepts sink like rocks. They are what you build upon. Once the tool is understood, and by understood I mean your understanding has become sub-conscious, it changes very little over time. They have low mental overhead. Think map and reduce. React state and views. Functors and monads.