On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 3:56 AM, Boyko Bantchev <[email protected]> wrote: > This particular tutorial is awful to learn Haskell from as a > beginner. It tries to be practical by teaching by example, but > is lacking any system in presenting the language. It introduces > many constructs and library tools at once right at the beginning, > while mostly presenting concepts only implicitly. Laziness is > not discussed at all, and only barely mentioned twice in the > whole text, while it is one of the Haskell's most characteristic > features!
I already understand laziness, I think I was first exposed to that concept nearly 20 years ago. What I lack is the ability to construct programs to test my understanding of concepts. Once I have a framework to test ideas in I think I will be able to pick up concepts faster. Keep in mind that I have tried to learn Haskell before, but I kept getting stalled because I could not figure out how to test the concepts I was supposedly learning. No matter how I start, I am going to have concepts around the edges which I do not understand. That is a given. But if I can see things in operation, I can reject huge classes of misunderstandings rather quickly. > I would have found it extremely difficult to follow the text > if I was really new to the language. Its positioning itself as an > introductory tutorial – even for people who don't know programming > languages at all – is ridiculous. That sounds like a mistake, but I learned LISP long before I learned APL. And I also know how to program in some other languages. > There are much better texts available in the Learning section on > www.haskell.org, more specifically here: > http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Learning_Haskell . > Of the textbooks, one is available both in printed form and for (free) > on-line reading: http://book.realworldhaskell.org . In fact, I think I found that "learning scheme" instance from the link you posted here. -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
