I can't resist jumping in on this one: > Haskell just has some terrible properties when it comes to teaching > beginners. Among them are the complex and easy-to-get-wrong syntax, > the available programming environments which are OK for developers but > awful for beginners. There's also a dearth of good textbooks at the > level you need. Haskell is very easy to learn (and an excellent > choice for a 2nd or 3rd language) when you know Scheme.
I have spent many years teaching both Scheme and Haskell to beginners, and I would have to say that Haskell syntax has never been a serious problem, certainly no more than Scheme's parentheses. It is true that there is a lack of good programming environments, although Hugs is pretty easy to use, and things like Helium should be even better. (I won't say much about textbooks since I wrote one that I think is pretty good for beginners :-) Finally, aside from extraneous type error messages (which Helium should do much better at), I claim that Haskell's type system is BETTER for beginners compared to having no type system at all. As for the last point above, I could just as easily say that Scheme is very easy to learn (and an excellent choice for a 2nd or 3rd language) when you know Haskell. Now, having said all this, I will add that I have the greatest respect for the TeachScheme project, and I wish that we had something as well developed for Haskell! -Paul _______________________________________________ Haskell mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell
