Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

messages.yale.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–98 of 98 posts

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#91

Post by Enzolangellotti »

eru wrote: post #83
Enzolangellotti wrote: post #70

Would you advise Haskell to someone who has just started programming (working on Learning Python the hard way) and is interested in learning mathematics (from the high school level onwards)? P.S. I want to study algorithms too but I'm just a beginner and the priority is mathematics (as it's one of the few subjects I seem to be able to concentrate on). I found a secondhand copy of Professor Sedgewick's book for ten eu…

Haskell as a language is suitable for beginners, but most of the learning material assumes some familiarity with other languages. I've been teaching a bit, and what worked was to start with Racket on How to Design Programs ( http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/part_prologue.ht... ) for a while and then switch over to Haskell material, like Learn You a Haskell. Racket is a great language too in itself, and has…

Amazon keeps recommending Realm of Racket (No Starch press). I'm checking your link and finding it useful, thank you!

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#92

Post by Enzolangellotti »

_ezkx wrote: post #72
Enzolangellotti wrote: post #70

Would you advise Haskell to someone who has just started programming (working on Learning Python the hard way) and is interested in learning mathematics (from the high school level onwards)? P.S. I want to study algorithms too but I'm just a beginner and the priority is mathematics (as it's one of the few subjects I seem to be able to concentrate on). I found a secondhand copy of Professor Sedgewick's book for ten eu…

FWIW Hudak's Haskell School of Expression was the first programming book I ever read, and probably the reason I do programming today.

I just checked a public library nearby and it occurs they might have a copy, thanks for the suggestion!

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#94

Post by eru »

Enzolangellotti wrote: post #91
eru wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haskell as a language is suitable for beginners, but most of the learning material assumes some familiarity with other languages. I've been teaching a bit, and what worked was to start with Racket on How to Design Programs ( http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/part_prologue.ht... ) for a while and then switch over to Haskell material, like Learn You a Haskell. Racket is a great language too in itself, and has…

Amazon keeps recommending Realm of Racket (No Starch press). I'm checking your link and finding it useful, thank you!

How to Design Programs is awesome, but really very slow and pedestrian later. Feel free to either skim or switch to another book once you outgrow it.

Definitely, do all the exercises in any programming book you are trying to learn from. In some sense, the exercises are the meat of any such book, and the rest is just supporting material.

Some people even start a new chapter with a look at the end-of-chapter exercises, try their hands at them for a few minutes. They'll most likely fail, but one gets a better perspective of what to watch out for in the chapter.

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#95

Post by eru »

Enzolangellotti wrote: post #90
teirce wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haskell is an amazing language. I've only spent a brief amount of time with it, but I've seen what others can do with it, and I'm very impressed. That said, I don't know that I'd recommend it to someone who has just started programming. I think that it'd be harder to appreciate it, since a lot of the rules that Haskell breaks / puts in place aren't things you've run into too often. I'd recommend becoming at least rel…

Thank you, I guess trying won't hurt, nobody has ever regretted learning anything after all. As for feeling discouraged, being stupid (in various degrees) is part of the learning process I believe. Couldn't say I'm learning anything otherwise. I will try Haskell alongside Python to see how it goes.

If you don't mind feeling stupid, Haskell will be very well suited for you. :)

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#96

Post by eru »

dopamean wrote: post #71
Enzolangellotti wrote: post #70

Would you advise Haskell to someone who has just started programming (working on Learning Python the hard way) and is interested in learning mathematics (from the high school level onwards)? P.S. I want to study algorithms too but I'm just a beginner and the priority is mathematics (as it's one of the few subjects I seem to be able to concentrate on). I found a secondhand copy of Professor Sedgewick's book for ten eu…

I imagine a lot of Haskellers would tell you yes. They love an opportunity to tell people who great Haskell is for anything. I'm not saying it's not in this case (I really have no idea) but I'm sure many would.

It's the one true faith!

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#97

Post by Enzolangellotti »

eru wrote: post #95
Enzolangellotti wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you, I guess trying won't hurt, nobody has ever regretted learning anything after all. As for feeling discouraged, being stupid (in various degrees) is part of the learning process I believe. Couldn't say I'm learning anything otherwise. I will try Haskell alongside Python to see how it goes.

If you don't mind feeling stupid, Haskell will be very well suited for you. :)

Don't worry, I've been living with the feeling for a long time ;)

Re: Paul Hudak, co-creator of Haskell, has died

#98

Post by Enzolangellotti »

eru wrote: post #94
Enzolangellotti wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon keeps recommending Realm of Racket (No Starch press). I'm checking your link and finding it useful, thank you!

How to Design Programs is awesome, but really very slow and pedestrian later. Feel free to either skim or switch to another book once you outgrow it. Definitely, do all the exercises in any programming book you are trying to learn from. In some sense, the exercises are the meat of any such book, and the rest is just supporting material. Some people even start a new chapter with a look at the end-of-chapter exercises,…

Yeah, in a certain sense it's a lot like mathematics. You try your hand, perhaps you get it right the first time, more often than not you don't but at least you learn something out of it.
Post reply on HN