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Changing a variable is simple. Creating multiple layers of indirection to change a variable in a pure fashion is not as simple. That should be obvious and apparent.

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It only appears simple because the layers of complexity to achieve that effect are hidden under the language runtime, and you're exposed to just the top of the iceberg.

If you had to build the whole runtime yourself from first principles, functional behaviour would be way simpler to define.

A functional runtime from top to bottom is simple on a FPGA. It's also pretty useless. A circuit with no memory that does the same thing each time. Pretty good for a light switch, but not the kind of things people want computers for.

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