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Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

learnyouahaskell.com

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Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#31

Post by yomslice »

wyager wrote: post #22
yomslice wrote: post #18

This book was excellent for helping me learn Haskell, but the gendered language and fat-shaming jokes made me feel very uncomfortable, eg: "You're fat! Lose some weight, fatty!","You're supposedly normal. Pffft, I bet you're ugly!" and "You're a whale, congratulations!", "Sure, we could just type them all out but obviously that's not a solution for gentlemen who demand excellence from their programming languages."

Clearly the author is going for a casual, conversational, jocular attitude. That's part of what makes LYAH so approachable. If you want dry, sanitized, bowdlerized instruction, LYAH is not the place to look.

It's possible to communicate in a casual, conversational, and humorous manner without alienating minorities and delivering insults, and the author chose not to.

I think it's unlikely that he was trying to be malicious and is probably just not sensitive to what it's like to be on the receiving end of some of his examples.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#32

Post by oldmanjay »

RMarcus wrote: post #26
wyager wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly the author is going for a casual, conversational, jocular attitude. That's part of what makes LYAH so approachable. If you want dry, sanitized, bowdlerized instruction, LYAH is not the place to look.

It seems as though individuals who don't want to feel bad about their weight and gender might also feel that LYAH is not the place to look. I guess LYAH and I just aren't a good "culture fit." It's a real shame too -- without these completely unnecessary comments that add no value, this is an excellent way to learn Haskell! I've become comfortable with my whale-like properties and I'm male, so I had the lovely privil…

I feel like some time in the 90s, people got this idea in their head that their sensitivities should be everyone's problem. Since you exhibit this, can you explain why? I'm super curious.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#33

Post by jacalata »

oldmanjay wrote: post #32
RMarcus wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems as though individuals who don't want to feel bad about their weight and gender might also feel that LYAH is not the place to look. I guess LYAH and I just aren't a good "culture fit." It's a real shame too -- without these completely unnecessary comments that add no value, this is an excellent way to learn Haskell! I've become comfortable with my whale-like properties and I'm male, so I had the lovely privil…

I feel like some time in the 90s, people got this idea in their head that their sensitivities should be everyone's problem. Since you exhibit this, can you explain why? I'm super curious.

I feel like you're trying to be a dick. Since you're doing this, could you explain why? I'm super curious.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#34

Post by bcbrown »

clark-kent wrote: post #11

What is a good online reference to learn about "Monads" for beginners? Someone posted a reference here on HN sometime ago but I lost it. Edit: The book was enjoyable and a delight to read, but I started struggling to keep up from Chapter 8. as it went into Monoids and Monads, I feel like I need to read other tutorials before coming back to it.

If you don't mind abstract mathematics, the category theory lectures from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Ky8lYL8-Oh7awp0sqa8... were what made monads finally click for me.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#35

Post by warkdarrior »

yomslice wrote: post #31
wyager wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly the author is going for a casual, conversational, jocular attitude. That's part of what makes LYAH so approachable. If you want dry, sanitized, bowdlerized instruction, LYAH is not the place to look.

It's possible to communicate in a casual, conversational, and humorous manner without alienating minorities and delivering insults, and the author chose not to. I think it's unlikely that he was trying to be malicious and is probably just not sensitive to what it's like to be on the receiving end of some of his examples.

Nowadays it is impossible to be humorous without alienating someone. For any attempt at humor, I can find someone who will feel oppressed.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#36

Post by g8b8m8_8-8 »

yomslice wrote: post #18

This book was excellent for helping me learn Haskell, but the gendered language and fat-shaming jokes made me feel very uncomfortable, eg: "You're fat! Lose some weight, fatty!","You're supposedly normal. Pffft, I bet you're ugly!" and "You're a whale, congratulations!", "Sure, we could just type them all out but obviously that's not a solution for gentlemen who demand excellence from their programming languages."

You're absolutely right, as a transfat HAES advocate genderqueer, I feel extremely triggered by the author's fat-phobic and gender-normative oppression. The author needs to check his privileges and rephrase to:

"You're healthy at every size! Continue being body positive, healthy!", "You're supposed normal. Pfft, society has an unrealistic standard of beauty!" and "You're absolutely perfect with no flaws, defects, or relevant analogies that can be made, congratulations!", "Sure, we could just type them all out but obviously that's not a solution for genderfluid feministia who demand equality from all xer programming languages."

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#38

Post by dragonwriter »

warkdarrior wrote: post #35
yomslice wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to communicate in a casual, conversational, and humorous manner without alienating minorities and delivering insults, and the author chose not to. I think it's unlikely that he was trying to be malicious and is probably just not sensitive to what it's like to be on the receiving end of some of his examples.

Nowadays it is impossible to be humorous without alienating someone. For any attempt at humor, I can find someone who will feel oppressed.

Its never been possible to be humorous without content that would alienate someone; nowadays, its just that communication is more ubiquitous so you're more likely to reach that person and hear back from them.

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#39

Post by platz »

clark-kent wrote: post #11

What is a good online reference to learn about "Monads" for beginners? Someone posted a reference here on HN sometime ago but I lost it. Edit: The book was enjoyable and a delight to read, but I started struggling to keep up from Chapter 8. as it went into Monoids and Monads, I feel like I need to read other tutorials before coming back to it.

Why do we need monads?: http://stackoverflow.com/a/28141248/176876

Re: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (2008)

#40

Post by xico »

wyager wrote: post #22
yomslice wrote: post #18

This book was excellent for helping me learn Haskell, but the gendered language and fat-shaming jokes made me feel very uncomfortable, eg: "You're fat! Lose some weight, fatty!","You're supposedly normal. Pffft, I bet you're ugly!" and "You're a whale, congratulations!", "Sure, we could just type them all out but obviously that's not a solution for gentlemen who demand excellence from their programming languages."

Clearly the author is going for a casual, conversational, jocular attitude. That's part of what makes LYAH so approachable. If you want dry, sanitized, bowdlerized instruction, LYAH is not the place to look.

Also the author is not from the US, so you can’t sue him to terrorize him with opinionated morals.
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