Functional Programming As a Means, Not an End

Sponsored by SIGPLAN
Co-located with ICFP 2007

Talk proposals due June 1, 2007

Functional languages have been under academic development for over 25 years, and remain fertile ground for programming language research. Recently, however, developers in industrial, governmental, and open source projects have begun to use functional languages very successfully in practical applications. In these settings, functional programming has often provided dramatic leverage, including whole new ways of thinking about the original problem.

The goal of the CUFP workshop is to act as a voice for these users of functional languages. The workshop supports the increasing viability of functional programming in the commercial, governmental, and open-source space by providing a forum for FP professionals to share their experiences and ideas, whether those ideas are related to business, management, or engineering. The workshop is also designed to enable the formation and reinforcement of relationships that further the commercial use of functional languages. Providing user feedback to language designers and implementors is not a primary goal of the workshop, though it will be welcome if it occurs.

Speaking at CUFP

If you use functional programming as a means, rather than as an end, we invite you to offer to give a talk at the workshop. Alternatively, if you know someone who would give a good talk, please nominate them!

Talks are typically about 30-45 minutes long, but can be shorter. They aim to inform participants about how functional programming played out in real-world applications, focusing especially on the re-usable lessons learned, or insights gained. Your talk does not need to be highly technical; for this audience, reflections on the commercial, management, or software engineering aspects are, if anything, more important. You do not need to submit a paper!

If you are interested in offering a talk, or nominating someone to do so, send an e-mail to kfisher at research.att.com or simonpj at microsoft.com by June 1, 2007 with a short description of what you'd like to talk about or what you think your nominee should give a talk about. Such descriptions should be roughly a page in length.

Program plans

CUFP 2007 will last a full day, with a mix of invited and submitted presentations, as well as discussion sessions. Topics will range over a wide area, including:
  • Case studies of successful and unsuccessful uses of functional programming;
  • Business opportunities and risks from using functional languages;
  • Enablers for functional language use in a commercial setting;
  • Barriers to the adoption of functional languages, and
  • Mitigation strategies for overcoming limitations of FP.
There will be no published proceedings, as the meeting is intended to be more a discussion forum than a technical interchange.

Program Committee
  • Kathleen Fisher (kfisher at research.att.com ) (Co-Chair)
  • Simon Peyton Jones (simonpj at microsoft.com ) (Co-Chair)
  • Francesco Cesarini (francesco at erlang-consulting.com)
  • Shae Erisson (shae at ScannedInAvian.com)
  • Xavier Leroy (Xavier.Leroy at inria.fr)
  • Manuel Serrano (Manuel.Serrano at sophia.inria.fr)
  • Don Syme (Don.Syme at microsoft.com)

This will be the fourth CUFP; see CUFP 2004 and CUFP 2005, and CUFP 2006 for information about the earlier meetings.

Reports of the first two CUFP workshops appeared in the Functional Programming column of the December 2004 issue of SIGPLAN Notices. The CUFP 2004 report is available for download. For CUFP 2005, Simon Thompson kindly wrote up some notes about his impressions.