On Jul 20, 12:19 pm, Sang Noir <noir.sangn...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm really tickled by the reaction to this comment on places like > reddit. Especially how all the Haskell apologists are rushing to the > defense of their language even though it's obvious that no Haskell > programmer UNDERSTANDS the language, especially the type system. > > Not exaggerating here. To confirm it, ask them about monads. Here's a > conversation I had with an expert Haskell programmer, edited for > length and spelling: > > Him: A functor is a type with a method for taking a "container" and > applying a function to its contents, and returning a container the > same size with the return values of those function applications > Me: We have that. It's called map. > Him: Yes > Him: In Haskell it's called fmap > Him: So a monad is that, plus two other methods > Him: return takes a single value and makes a container with that value > in it > Him: join takes a container of the same kind of container and flattens > them > Me: ... > Him: So the container > Me: Then monads are just data structures > Him: Well no > Me: Lists are monads, right? > Me: So why isn't "Monad" called "DataStructure" > Him: Correct, but > Him: Well that's what it's called in category theory > > He went on to talk about monoids and applicatives. What he was trying > to say without actually admitting it was that these things have weird > names just for the sake of making everything more complicated than it > needs to be. This, people, is what you get when you design a language > around a type system: Meddlers with PhDs in category theory, making > desperate grabs for job security. Actually, it's an established fact > that a type system is never one of the interesting or useful parts of > a language, and that's why I stick to languages which don't have a > type system in the first place. >
There is no purpose to a message like this. Everyone, please refrain from language wars. Haskell is a tremendously ambitious and inspiring language, for which I have the highest respect. There is zero point in bashing it (or its users) in this forum. Thanks, Rich -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
