Functional Reactive Programming

Chapter 5. New concepts

This chapter covers

• The von Neumann machine: a stored program computer architecture
• Compositionality—what it is and why it’s important
• Immutable values and immutable data structures
• Clarity of intent
• Cheap abstraction

You’ve seen a practical example done in FRP style. In chapter 1, we said that a new way of thinking will help you get the most out of FRP. In this chapter, we’ll continue breaking that down.

5.1. In search of the mythical von Neumann machine

In this section, we’ll explain what the von Neumann machine is and why it’s the source of some assumptions that not only are unhelpful in programming but also turn out to be largely false. The “stored program” computer architecture (see figure 5.1) has served ...