in reply to Why I like functional programming
For all you out there who now want to learn about functional programming (and the other styles, too) - do yourself a favor and work through this excellent book:
<cite>Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman. The MIT Press, 1996. Second Edition.</cite>
This book has changed my programming world from ground up. Ok, agreed, it is "challenging", as they like to put it in some reviews. Don't mind. Go forward. Buy it. Read it. Study it. Do the exercises. It's simply the best single book on programming that I know, and the only book that I know that really captures a lot of the "Zen" of programming.
Update: This book is (incredibly) now available online. Thanks to the Arsdigita people! Great service to all programmers.
Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com