FP to the metal

[hmijail]

An idea for 1-3 collaborative talks / a hackathon / a flipped-classroom thing.

The general idea is to have a small but non-trivial programming task that can be completed in maybe 1 hour (or more, or less); could be an example from Jon Bentley´s "Programming Pearls". We can look at a good solution in C and discuss its runtime characteristics: time, memory, predictability. Maybe even a naive solution first, and then a better one, explaining why it's better.
(C is good because it allows one to see pretty clearly what is going on, with hardly any runtime environment, and is probably universal enough; C++ or Java or others might obscure things)

Then, we discuss implementations in FP languages. How long does it take to program? What are its runtime characteristics? Advantages, pitfalls? Is one language better than others? One paradigm better than others?

Could be done multiple times with different example tasks.
Could be done in real time: presentation of the task, 1-2 hour for hacking alone or in groups or mob-programming, 1 hour for results and discussion.
Could be presented one meetup, and the next meetup we all discuss what we did/tried.

[hmijail]

I can do the C part of things, talk about low-level factors, etc.
I am very interested in the FP response, but I am too new to know how to contribute meaningfully there.