The Dys-Functional Student

Functional languages liberate students from complex syntax, complex semantics and complex memory allocation; allowing them to concentrate on problem-solving. However, functional programming is not a universal panacea. Students still have problems with language features, program concepts and the legacy of the imperative paradigm. This paper aims to assist the lecturer asked to teach a functional language for the first time. We present typical student mistakes, attempt to explain why these mistakes arise, and propose possible remedies. 1 1 Introduction Functional languages have been taught for a number of years at both University College London (UCL) and the University of Westminster, covering undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The proximity of UCL and Westminster has resulted in a close collaboration. In particular, we have jointly produced two functional programming text books [Mye93, Cla94], together with on-line support in the form of coursework questions (solutions emailed on..