> While tools like functional programming may indeed deliver on the promise of a 60% code reduction,[…]
Most code is badly written C++ that could have been written in, say, Ocaml, Haskell, or Lisp. This is easily a 10 fold reduction. And the guys at http://vpri.org/ are doing at least five times better than that (50 fold reduction compared to well written C).
On your point 3, Bugs have lower accountability. Meaning, lower impact for those who commit them. If they have lower impact as well, that's because they forced us to distrust software.
(The downvote suggest I may have to clarify my statement. I suppose unqualified bashing isn't exactly a good idea.)
By the LOC count of currently maintained projects, most code is definitely badly written, and in a low-level or otherwise unsuitable language such as C++ (C++ is fast, but most of the time we shouldn't even care.) Most code I see (beware selection bias) is indeed badly written C++ (I even authored some of it). Now, if you count by project times end-user popularity, then you have a completely different story. It is a poor proxy for programmer's work quantity, however.
Regarding the 10 fold reduction, just know that I experienced first hand 5 fold reductions when doing my best with C++ and Ocaml respectively. A 10 fold reduction is not unrealistic at all when we talk about badly written C++. For instance…
…I currently write plugin for a 2 million-lines program. The exposed interface alone weights 80,000 lines. Many classes have hundreds of methods, and the inheritance hierarchy is generally 5 levels deep, sometimes up to 8 or 9. And, it actively deals with no less than 6 different types for handling strings (std::string, char* , old Pascal strings of 3 different types, and some String type that inherits std::string). Oh, and it's slow. C++ didn't even help here. We are past the point where we can talk about technical debt: it's a Big Ball of Mud.
For such a program, I expect a 20 fold reduction. And I bet there are other Chtulu abominations out there that make look this program like a little diamond.
Most code is badly written C++ that could have been written in, say, Ocaml, Haskell, or Lisp. This is easily a 10 fold reduction. And the guys at http://vpri.org/ are doing at least five times better than that (50 fold reduction compared to well written C).
On your point 3, Bugs have lower accountability. Meaning, lower impact for those who commit them. If they have lower impact as well, that's because they forced us to distrust software.