Functional programming has been in use for large-scale industrial projects for decades now. Yet most of the community’s vast body of knowledge on how to structure and implement such project seems to be folklore, with the occasional reference to ICFP or JFP papers. This is hardly a realistic offering for community outsiders.

Furthermore, the software architecture community has developed a large body of useful knowledge, literature and pedagogy, largely unknown in functional programming circles. In particular, the hugely effective set of techniques and insights associated with Domain-Driven Design has seen very little cross-pollination with functional design techniques, despite their shared goals.

If we want to bring the advantages of functional programming to realistic, industrial projects not conducted by insiders, we will need to learn to communicate with the software archtecture community.

This talk will report on our experience interacting with the software architecture community, identify a few particularly fruitful areas of potential cross-pollination, and try to take a long view on what functional software architecture might look in the future.

Mike Sperber is CEO of Active Group GmbH in Tübingen, Germany.