P.A. Bailes and C.J.M. Kemp (Australia)
Fold, Functional programming, Higher-order functions
The persistent difficulty of programming is indicative of the need for further reduction in the complexity of programming languages. Systematic simplification of functional programs is achieved through the packaging of recursion via "fold" functions, but we are led to even further simplifications by conceiving of partially-applied folds in terms of providing enlivened or "zoetic" views of otherwise inert data. Importantly, zoetic animations can indeed be found in more general structures than just pure folds, and fold-theory is critical in the synthesis of these wider applications. This zoetic style has a strong grounding in the theoretical development of functional programming and has interesting links to object-oriented programming, and subrecursive and analog computing. Its identification moreover in some of the most striking applications of higher-order functional programming leads us to suspect that this zoetic style is the ultimate simplification of functional programming.
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