An Introduction to Functional Programming Using PHP

Hi, we chatted a little after your talk and I promised to try to put something down coherently! I enjoyed your talk and I think you clearly put a lot of thought into it. I'll share my thoughts on making it a little more accessible to those who are not familiar with functional programming at all.

I think it is worth focussing on a specific space, e.g. PHP and not worrying about it being a true functional language, that's fine especially when exploring the beginnings. It might be worth mentioning that people will have seen similar things if they've written much in javascript. Definitely good to mention that there are truly functional languages, which people can explore if they want to.

I thought your examples were good, I liked the consistency of them throughout which removed some of the brain taxation :) However, I think it might benefit from knitting a story line through. For example, the creation of a report, showing how you might do it procedurally, and then build up, or refactor to the functional equivalent.

Keep at it, and keep your energy and enthusiasm for the subject as it really carries through when you speak.

Also might be worth checking out Refactoring to Collections by Adam Wathan, which explores some similar concepts in a slightly different way.

Didn't really know what functional programming was before this talk, had just heard the name before.

This talk helped me understand what this actually is & was presented really well - I'm pretty sure it was said this was your first talk, I wouldn't have been able to tell if it hadn't been stated before hand.

Some practical examples of this being implemented in a actual project or some sort would be good.