--- title: Functional programming is the libertarianism of software... description: A tongue-in-cheek analogy comparing functional programming to libertarianism, arguing both are dogma-driven ideologies that start from arbitrary axioms... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Functional programming is the libertarianism of software engineering | daily.dev og:description: A tongue-in-cheek analogy comparing functional programming to libertarianism, arguing both are dogma-driven ideologies that start from arbitrary axioms... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/V9qsWFdYV.png og:image:alt: Functional programming is the libertarianism of software engineering og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Functional programming is the libertarianism of software engineering **[Erik Bernhardsson](https://daily.dev/sources/erikbernhardsson)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A tongue-in-cheek analogy comparing functional programming to libertarianism, arguing both are dogma-driven ideologies that start from arbitrary axioms (eliminating state/government) rather than practical goals like programmer productivity. Despite this critique, the author concedes both are roughly 90% correct and that developers of any background can benefit from FP principles: writing pure functions, avoiding mutable state, and building data transformation pipelines. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [OOP vs Functional Programming Explained for Dummies](https://daily.dev/posts/oop-vs-functional-programming-explained-for-dummies-nnq1rp7ks) · Ruby Flow · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Lambda Days - Learning Resources / Talks - Erlang Forums](https://daily.dev/posts/lambda-days---learning-resources-talks---erlang-forums-hznvl5mu4) · Erlang Forums · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Lesson 6: Functional Programming \(FP\)](https://daily.dev/posts/lesson-6-functional-programming-fp--9lu09yx71) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#functional-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/functional-programming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Functional programming is the libertarianism of software engineering","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv"},"datePublished":"2026-03-26T08:35:15.957Z","dateModified":"2026-03-26T08:40:35.714Z","description":"A tongue-in-cheek analogy comparing functional programming to libertarianism, arguing both are dogma-driven ideologies that start from arbitrary axioms...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Erik Bernhardsson","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Erik Bernhardsson","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--SlM88DTW--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774514112/logos/erikbernhardsson?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/erikbernhardsson"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/functional-programming-is-the-libertarianism-of-software-engineering-v9qswfdyv","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"functional-programming","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Erik Bernhardsson","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/erikbernhardsson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Functional programming is the libertarianism of software engineering"}]} ```