Haemin Yoo

Programmer

I’m a self-taught developer who started with functional programming early on and never looked the other way. Over the past seven years, I’ve been building production systems in Scala across multiple startup settings. I created “Decrel,” a library that reifies domain relationships, and I am currently working on building a system with the goal of having my colleagues consistently clock out at 6 pm.

Beyond Purity and Functions: The Real Reason FP Matters

Software complexity piles up in our short-term memory when juggling concepts like nullability, state changes, and side effects. This talk shows how functional programming combats cognitive load through two core mechanisms: reification (turning these concerns into composable values) and identifying compositional patterns (knowing which patterns reduce complexity rather than just nesting it). Drawing on real-world startup experience, we’ll explore how a clear, top-down mental model of FP—focused on reducing mental overhead—can accelerate adoption and inform better teaching materials. Expect pragmatic examples and insights that help you see why “values that compose” remain the most direct path to simplifying systems, especially under tight startup pressures. Instead of abstract theory, you’ll come away with a tangible framework to harness FP’s power for building more maintainable, comprehensible code.

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