|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
title = "Functional Reactive Programming - Stephen Blackheath, Anthony Jones"
|
|
|
|
|
date = 2020-03-04
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[taxonomies]
|
|
|
|
|
tags = ["books", "reviews", "stephen blackheath", "it", "anthony jones"]
|
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24671986-functional-reactive-programming)
|
|
|
|
|
Functional Reactive Programming teaches the concepts and applications of FRP.
|
|
|
|
|
It begins with a careful walk-through of the FRP core operations and
|
|
|
|
|
introduces the concepts and techniques you'll need to use FRP in any language.
|
|
|
|
|
Following easy-to-understand examples, you'll learn both how to use FRP in
|
|
|
|
|
greenfield applications and how to refactor existing applications. Along the
|
|
|
|
|
way, the book introduces the basics of functional programming in a
|
|
|
|
|
just-in-time style, so you never learn anything before you need to use it.
|
|
|
|
|
When you're finished, you'll be able to use FRP to spend more time adding
|
|
|
|
|
features and less time fixing problems.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
{{ stars(stars=0) }}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* (-) Some phrases are a bit hard to read. Maybe it's because I'm
|
|
|
|
|
not a native English speaker[^1], but some are akin to "my beautiful
|
|
|
|
|
nature photos", which you can read in different ways ("my beautiful photos
|
|
|
|
|
of nature", "my photos of beautiful nature") and I had to backtrack and
|
|
|
|
|
read the whole thing again.
|
|
|
|
|
* (-) Code listings are a mess: long and with no separation of concerns. It is
|
|
|
|
|
ok if you use lambdas for simpler functions, but when you keep piling
|
|
|
|
|
lambdas over lambdas, things get a bit out of hand. Trying to explain some
|
|
|
|
|
functionality in a 200 line function is not actually helpful.
|
|
|
|
|
* (-) The ePub version seriously need another check. Some code listings are
|
|
|
|
|
pure text, following the font size the user set in their reader; other are
|
|
|
|
|
screenshots/images of code, which get way out of hand, as some of those
|
|
|
|
|
had a font 1/5 of the size I set up (yes, I use a large font, I'm reading
|
|
|
|
|
at night without my glasses, but the point remains).
|
|
|
|
|
* (--) There is very little explanation on what FRP really is, but a lot about
|
|
|
|
|
how to do things with Sodium, the authors' library. Instead of focusing on
|
|
|
|
|
how to build your own FRP system, using Sodium as reference, the book
|
|
|
|
|
focuses _a lot_ in using Sodium and its relationship with FRP instead
|
|
|
|
|
of explaining the concept behind the FRP functionality itself.
|
|
|
|
|
* (--) The authors show some weird prejudices against TDD. For example, they
|
|
|
|
|
say that FRP doesn't require TDD and that using TDD is actually _harmful_
|
|
|
|
|
for FRP (!!![^2]), "unless you test logic" (???[^3]). I have to ask: Seriously?
|
|
|
|
|
What do you think TDD is about? Lines of code? TDD says that "tests should
|
|
|
|
|
validate behaviors, not implementation" and I'm wondering why the authors
|
|
|
|
|
are so reticent against TDD when their concept of TDD seems completely out
|
|
|
|
|
of place.
|
|
|
|
|
* (---) There is a strong gatekeeping in the book. While talking about other
|
|
|
|
|
frameworks, the authors decided to focus more on "why this framework
|
|
|
|
|
is not pure FRP, while Sodium is" instead of, again, focusing on the
|
|
|
|
|
concepts of FRP itself. "FRP says so and so, you can build this with
|
|
|
|
|
framework X using that and that" is a good way to do it; "FRP says so and
|
|
|
|
|
so, framework X do this which is not what the FRP says, so framework X is
|
|
|
|
|
not FRP, but Sodium is!" is a dickish way to downplay other frameworks.
|
|
|
|
|
Not only that, but every time Sodium break some FRP rule (rules that
|
|
|
|
|
the authors themselves keep listing), they put a long explanation on why
|
|
|
|
|
it's ok for you to break the rule there when using Sodium, but Sodium,
|
|
|
|
|
although requiring you to break some FRP rule, is actually a pure-FRP
|
|
|
|
|
framework, and not those pesky other frameworks that are not pure-FRP
|
|
|
|
|
frameworks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Honestly, I read the book and I still don't understand FRP; all I got was some
|
|
|
|
|
concepts for a Sodium framework.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[^1]: ... which may appear as no surprise, with the amount of grammar mistakes
|
|
|
|
|
in this post. :p
|
|
|
|
|
[^2]: That's surprise.
|
|
|
|
|
[^3]: That's confusion.
|
