i wrote this article off about when it makes incorrect comparisons between immutable values and final variables. someone who read it, is the rest of the article worth reading, or even accurate?
there's certainly a need for articles like this, targetting an audience of java devs, if only they were correct. I haven't found much.
Yes, it's worth reading and it's basically accurate, although I'm not sure the accuracy is really as important as the general big picture, since there aren't that many examples.
Is there something specific that you can point out where the article is actually incorrect? There are only a few paragraphs in the beginning that mention final variables (and those only use Java primitives). I agree that there's a distinction to be made but I don't know how useful that would be in this kind of article.
If you're going to be splitting hairs over immutable values and final variables, you're probably not the target audience. On the other hand, Java devs who can't be bothered to finish a 20 page article probably aren't either.
FWIW, I think that Rich Hickey's Clojure videos and some of his more general talks on state, time and identity are probably some of the best "intros to FP for Java devs" out there.
To be fair the the grandparent, the difference between immutable data structures and final variables in imperative languages is large and fundamental. If the author is (and I don't know, because I haven't read the article recently) making this analogy then it is going to be extremely confusing for some people.
The article doesn't make this analogy, that was my point. It doesn't really delve into immutable data structures at all, and just discusses FP in broad strokes. This isn't really a bad thing, since I don't think it was meant to be a deeply technical article.
there's certainly a need for articles like this, targetting an audience of java devs, if only they were correct. I haven't found much.