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I learned typed FP from Haskell, coming from JS, and I'm glad I started there. It was a bit of a slog, but there are some wonderful books out there. I don't th

by leshow 7y ago

I learned typed FP from Haskell, coming from JS, and I'm glad I started there. It was a bit of a slog, but there are some wonderful books out there. I don't think we should discount the amount of pedagological resources that are available in the language. My favorite is the "First Principles" book. As a side effect, I found that once I had learned most of Haskell (minus some of the language extensions aimed at type level programming). You pretty much won't find anything in any other typed language that will surprise you.

jasim 7y ago
I understand your point of view and I also don't think my understanding of Typed FP would be complete without sufficient immersion in Haskell. But even with the learning materials, it is too steep a climb for beginner programmers for whom the love of the subject is secondary to their day jobs and regular life. For people from dynamically typed or static OO background, being able to write functional code with records and sum types alone is a huge quality of life improvement. They should be able to get there with the least amount of effort. Haskell however demands far too much understanding and effort before it can be confidently used in a commercial setting. That excludes mainstream programmers who could otherwise most benefit from the paradigm.
verttii 7y ago
What would you say are some of the main benefits you gained with your journey with Haskell, beyond coming across a lot of abstract concepts? I'm struggling to justify spending more time on picking up Haskell myself as I can't see clearly what's at the end of that tunnel.
- leshow 7y ago
  I love Haskell, I find it a joy to write. If you don't really enjoy it then there isn't much reason to spend time on it. It's probably not going to help you with employment. As a side benefit, it's helped me solidify many PLT and CS concepts. That's enough for me to see value in it.

by leshow 7y ago

jasim 7y ago

I understand your point of view and I also don't think my understanding of Typed FP would be complete without sufficient immersion in Haskell. But even with the learning materials, it is too steep a climb for beginner programmers for whom the love of the subject is secondary to their day jobs and regular life. For people from dynamically typed or static OO background, being able to write functional code with records and sum types alone is a huge quality of life improvement. They should be able to get there with the least amount of effort. Haskell however demands far too much understanding and effort before it can be confidently used in a commercial setting. That excludes mainstream programmers who could otherwise most benefit from the paradigm.

verttii 7y ago

What would you say are some of the main benefits you gained with your journey with Haskell, beyond coming across a lot of abstract concepts? I'm struggling to justify spending more time on picking up Haskell myself as I can't see clearly what's at the end of that tunnel.

leshow 7y ago
I love Haskell, I find it a joy to write. If you don't really enjoy it then there isn't much reason to spend time on it. It's probably not going to help you with employment. As a side benefit, it's helped me solidify many PLT and CS concepts. That's enough for me to see value in it.