Advanced functional programming is commonplace in academia. In this talk I will explain why it is time to bring its advantages to industry too. Through my experience with Chordify, a web start-up that brings chord recognition to the masses, I have explored the benefits of exposing open-source, cutting-edge research to a wider audience. I will share several insights gained from my experience, namely with regards to: the architecture of a functional backend, interaction between this backend and a PHP/JS frontend, handling millions of visits per month with minimal hassle, and the logistics of an internet start-up.
After completing his PhD at Utrecht University, José Pedro Magalhães has pursued both an academic career at the University of Oxford, and an entrepreneurial path, as a co-founder and developer at Chordify, an internet start-up that attracts over a million visitors each month. He has previously worked as an intern in industrial research environments at CERN (Geneva), Philips Research (Eindhoven), and Microsoft Research (Cambridge). Over the past decade, he has co-authored dozens of scientific publications, contributed to numerous Haskell libraries, and implemented his research ideas in the most important Haskell compiler (GHC).
