Why are russians so good at programming?

What are some good resources for learning about functional programming? Why?

• Follow-up on Erik Meijer’s suggestions for further reading in Functional Programming http://kanak.kshetri.com/camping/?p=94 and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2368783

• Answer:

  The best introduction is only half written: How to Design Programs, Second Edition (http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/). Right now, I would recommend following HTDP/2e until the text runs out, and then switching to the first edition (http://htdp.org/, http://www.amazon.com/How-Design-Programs-Introduction-Programming/dp/0262062186). How to Design Programs is about learning to program, and it uses functional programming to teach programming because that allows it to focus on basic skills and techniques. But that doesn’t mean it’s only for programming novices. We use it for freshmen, but we also use it for M.S. students (who already have undergrad degrees in computer science), so it’s certainly appropriate for programmers and non-programmers alike. Compared to other approaches to teaching programming and functional programming that I’ve been involved with, both as teacher and as student, it consistently works the best. Students quickly become comfortable with fundamental functional programming techniques including recursion of various flavors and higher-order functions. The center of the HTDP approach is the concept of a “Design Recipe,” which is a step-by-step process for designing programs or parts of programs. The idea is to provide a rational approach to design, eliminating trial-and-error and random thrashing, which is common when learning programming or learning a new paradigm. The only way to learn this stuff is to do the exercises, and I strongly recommend following the recipe when doing the exercises, no matter how silly it may seem at first, because it will pay off later.