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Functional JavaScript: Introducing Functional Programming with Underscore.js 1st Edition

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Michael Fogus (Author)
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Michael Fogus (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 35 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-1449360726
ISBN-10: 1449360726
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 260 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (June 20, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1449360726
  • ISBN-13: 978-1449360726
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #586,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsjust might change how you approach problems with JS
By R. Friesel Jr. on June 19, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
My name is on the back cover, and that blurb probably says it all but...

I had the privilege of reading some early drafts of this book and seeing it take shape. Fogus has written an outstanding book here and one that I could see joining the ranks of canonical JS texts like JavaScript: The Good Parts, Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, and JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (aka "el Rhino Diablo"). Just like Underscore is a surprisingly-small-yet-surprisingly-powerful library, so this book is surprisingly dense. This probably shouldn't be your first JavaScript book, but if you're familiar with the language already, then this is an excellent introduction to the functional programming paradigm, as well as how to apply those concepts to JavaScript. I'm particularly impressed with how accessible he makes some of these concepts (e.g., pipelining, trampolines, protocols) which can sometimes seem a bit... obtuse and academic. Fogus really shows how these powerful techniques can be used with great effect in JavaScript, but also how JavaScript itself makes some of these concepts possible (and even trivial) to implement.

Seriously: JavaScript is everywhere, it's the lingua franca of the web, and as we do more powerful things in the browser, we're going to need more powerful programming paradigms. "Functional JavaScript" helps show the way.
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4.0 out of 5 stars"Functional Javascript" by Michael Fogus; O'Reilly Media
By BMK on July 17, 2013
Format: Paperback
Disclaimer - I got this book through the O'Reilly blogger review program, however, I had planned on purchasing this book since I first heard of it, the fact I got it through the program was simply a bonus.

In his new book, Fogus attempts the twofold task of introducing his audience to functional programming in general, and demonstrating how one can achieve a functional style using Javascript and the underscore.js library in particular.

Reading this book was my first sustained investigation into functional programming proper. I had heard it mentioned in various contexts through the years, but as far as real reading into the topic, I doubt that I had done more than simply skimmed the functional programming wikipedia page.

I had, naively, expected to be faced with something entirely foreign when I initially opened the book. What I found, though, is probably best compared to the first time you listen to jazz music after years of listening to rock. All the parts are the same, the musicians use the same instruments, making the same sounds, but use them in ways that are both familiar but, in some sense, radically different at the same time.
In terms of example code provided, it will be comprehensible to anyone familiar with javascript, one might simply be struck by the _way_ things are done. They may seem unnatural at first, but once one starts to get a feeling for the functional style it becomes clear how functional programming makes it easier to reason clearly about your code, something that (it is obvious to me now) is much more difficult in the good old fashioned OOP or imperative programming paradigms.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsLearn Underscore first
By Greg Bulmash on July 2, 2013
Format: Paperback
In the foreword, the author makes an argument for why he finds Underscore so useful for writing functional JavaScript, then says "while I use Underscore extensively (and endorse it), this is not a book about Underscore, per se." This translates to "I'm going to use Underscore a lot in my code samples, but I'm not going to explain a bit of it."

But by the time you're 17 pages in, you're running into sample code like "return _.rest(.map(table, _.first)."

If you don't have a grounding in Underscore, you will hit a wall early on and have to choose between pausing to get a grounding in underscore or throwing the book away entirely.

Hopefully this review gives you the option of making that choice BEFORE buying the book.
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2.0 out of 5 starsStill doesn't explain why, or give context
By Michael on September 1, 2013
Format: Paperback
I've really been trying to get into functional programming. I really have. Conceptually, it's not too difficult, and I can understand everything presented in the book no problem.

But this book, like everything else I've come across regarding functional programming, gives me absolutely zero reason to use it in the wild. Like everything else, all its examples are basically about sorting lists, etc., and very little to do with what 99% of real-world JavaScript programming is.

In no place in the book does the author explain *why* you should use the functional style instead of imperative, or *when* you should, and when you shouldn't, or how to properly balance the two.

There are zero examples that are actually applicable to the real world. Show me how you'd build a simple webapp that tracks and categorizes songs in your music library, for example, and show me how you'd build it functionally, and show me what advantages this has to building it imperatively. Show me interaction with a database or a web service, and what advantages FP has.

Because, as far as I can tell, FP is a whole lot harder to debug (at least in JavaScript), a whole lot harder to maintain, and it's main strengths are geared towards parallel processing -- which, obviously, does not exist in JavaScript.

So this book tells me *how* to do FP in JS, but I am still left clueless and baffled as to why you would ever, or when it's appropriate and when it's not.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsA bit outdated in mid 2016.....

Keep in mind that this is a 2016 review. Since the book was published, es2015 was released, and there are many better functional libraries than underscore: ramda, immutablejs,... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Benj
5.0 out of 5 starsFogus is a brilliant writer! The book is a deep dive but ...

Mr. Fogus is a brilliant writer! The book is a deep dive but very nicely explained, very methodical and stays on-track. Read more

Published 8 months ago by John Peters
5.0 out of 5 starsThe chapter on recursion is especially good. The underscore functions...

I'm about half way through this book and have really found the text to be illuminating so far. The chapter on recursion is especially good. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Matthew Vincent
4.0 out of 5 starsThought-provoking book for writing functional JavaScript

An excellent thought-provoking book for learning how to write functional JavaScript and getting into that mindset. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Bruce M
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Really changed how I think about functional programming

Published 18 months ago by Yarharhar
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent reference

I've been writing JavaScript for over a decade. Having played with MVC approaches, I found the functional approach a refreshing, clean, explicit approach to developing a project. Read more

Published 19 months ago by gregory
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Incredible insight into JavaScript and a must read.

Published 22 months ago by Pieter Linde
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Excellent!

Published 24 months ago by Chuck Urmson
3.0 out of 5 starsThis a good book, on a hot topic

This a good book, on a hot topic. It deserves a rating higher than 3. But the Kindle edition has not been updated (at this time) with the considerable errata published on the... Read more

Published on November 8, 2014 by Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 starsAfter reading many programming technology books over the years, ...

After reading many programming technology books over the years, and many JavaScript texts, I found this book to ramble. Read more

Published on October 6, 2014 by Brian R. Jewell

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