You're right. It's not as pure as mathematics. But, it is much purer and cleaner than a lot of languages in use today. It lends itself well to translating in

You're right. It's not as pure as mathematics. But, it is much purer and cleaner than a lot of languages in use today. It lends itself well to translating into formal proofs, and it is a great testing bed for ideas. Haskell has a certain beauty to it that sets it apart from other languages. There is no perfect programming language, and Haskell has its weak points. However, I find that it is great for prototyping and reference designs. I can take advantage of its clarity and strong type system to build simulators for protocols, algorithms, services, and even operating systems. I can then use these simulators as integration testbeds for building solid components in lower level languages. Haskell also makes a great language for compiler writing and text processing. I think that the language fills an important niche. It's probably never going to be a mainstream language, as it does have a certain erudite aura about it, but it is a language well worth learning.