[Haskell-cafe] Python is lazier than Haskell

[Ketil Malde]

Henning Thielemann <lemming at henning-thielemann.de> writes:

> I like to apply for the quote of the week. :-)
>
>   "If Haskell is great because of its laziness,
>    then Python must be even greater,
>    since it is lazy at the type level."

Well, this is indeed (an elegant reformulation of) a common objection,
namely that Python programmers often want to run code that is *wrong*,
in ways that a statically typed languge would prohibit.  The idea being
that during development, you can test a partial program without worrying
about the missing pieces from - or pieces that don't quite fit - the
puzzle.

In Haskell, I often need to add stubs of "undefined" in order to do
this.  I don't mind, since it is often very useful to say *something*
about the particular piece - e.g. I add the type signature, establishing
the shape of the missing piece without bothering with the actual
implementation just yet.

That "Haskell is great because of its laziness" is arguable, see Robert
Harper's blog for all the arguing. (http://existentialtype.wordpress.com/)

-k
-- 
If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants