Keynote: An Enterprise Software Consultant's view of FP

Abstract

FP has already won the hearts of everyone who will attend a conference like CUFP. Major financial companies and well known startups proudly advertise that they are working in functional languages with great success. Joe Armstrong, speaking here last year, expressed the competitive advantages of FPLs. In fact, almost everyone serious about analyzing large amounts of data is already working in an FP style, especially when that data is streaming. And with the many conferences completely dedicated to functional being hosted all over the world it is easy to believe that FP has become mainstream.

This keynote is going to show you that FP hasn't won. It will cover the current state of enterprise software development and the complete lack of awareness of functional programming within it. After spending many years surrounded by like-minded folks, we'll take a look at what is happening outside of our echo-chamber and what, if anything, can be done to turn the focus towards the languages we love. It's a dangerous time. If FP stays stuck within our bubble it will float off into relative obscurity without having the impact on the world that we know that it should. If this happens we'll all have trouble finding new opportunities to make money writing in our favorite languages.

Amanda Laucher

Amanda Laucher has been working with technology her entire life. Some of her favorite childhood memories include working with punch cards alongside her grandmother or learning Morse code from her dad. Solving complex business problems with code is her passion. She is currently working with Pariveda Solutions as a consultant on big data, IoT, FP projects. You are likely to find her discussing intricacies of languages and type systems, software development processes or American football.