Here we go again

Here we go again. I will note that this is from 2002. But the fact that it is being recirculated now suggests that this is a timely topic. I've been a programmer for 30 some odd years. 25 of those professionally. I started on BASIC, learned C as fast as I could because I wanted to program games and all the cool kids were writing games in C. Then OOP became hot and I learned C++ and Java and was introduced to OOP design patterns and threw myself into studying Gang of Four, PLOPD and other classic works on the subject. Yes, I remember the "hot-ness" of OOP in the 90s. Next, Java, even the marketing forces that led to calling ECMAScript "Java"Script and shoe-horning objects into what was intended by Brenden Eich to be a functional language came out of this idea that OOP was the next big thing in software development. But what I don't remember was anyone, at any point in my 25 year career history, saying that OOP is the "only way." In fact, I remember having a keen interest in LISP and FP as an aspiring novice in the 90s. …