You're struggling to write functional code. What are the best ways to improve your skills?

To enhance your coding skills, engage in consistent practice by working on real-world projects, participating in coding challenges, and contributing to open-source projects. Regularly review and refactor your code to identify areas for improvement, and seek feedback from peers through code reviews. Embrace continuous learning by exploring new programming languages, frameworks, and design patterns. Utilize online resources, such as tutorials, documentation, and forums, to deepen your understanding of coding concepts. Join coding communities and attend meetups or conferences to connect with experienced developers, gaining valuable insights and mentorship.

To improve functional coding skills, study concepts like immutability and higher-order functions, practice in functional languages like Haskell or Scala, work on projects applying these principles, and engage with the functional programming community through workshops and code reviews for feedback and learning opportunities.

People believe functionality and features are always a result of complex concepts & code. But you will be surprised to see how often, the simplest concepts can generate out-of-the-world functionality for you. So if you are a coder who's struggling to make your code functional, start with revisiting the basics and getting them right. The rest will follow.

Investigating functional programming via specialized programming languages such as Haskell or Clojure facilitates a significant paradigm shift and cultivates a more comprehensive comprehension of functional principles. Although functional features can be incorporated into widely used languages, for optimal comprehension and consistency, one should immerse themselves in an exclusively functional environment. By interacting with programming languages such as Scala or Elixir, users are not only introduced to a variety of syntaxes but also develop their ability to solve problems using a functional paradigm.

practicing on small problems is an effective strategy to improve functional coding skills. Platforms like Codewars, HackerRank, and Project Euler provide a variety of challenges ideal for honing problem-solving abilities and exploring functional programming concepts. Additionally, refactoring existing code or rewriting it in a functional style can deepen understanding and proficiency in functional programming paradigms.

Learning from experienced practitioners is indeed invaluable for skill enhancement. Engaging with online communities, forums, blogs, newsletters, and podcasts dedicated to functional programming offers opportunities to absorb insights, ask questions, and receive feedback. Additionally, participating in local or online events like meetups, workshops, and conferences facilitates networking and knowledge exchange, accelerating the learning process in functional programming.

To excel in functional programming, immerse yourself in official documentation and select books by field experts. Official docs bring you the latest, creator-intended knowledge, while expert-authored books distill years of insights and best practices, while also challenging you with small projects. This strategy not only fast-tracks learning but leverages the wisdom of seasoned programmers, making complex concepts more navigable.