[Haskell-beginners] PHP vs Haskell... a challenge!

[Patrick Lynch]

Good morning,

Thanks for the link 
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Brian-Beckman-Dont-fear-the-Monads
I saw it a while back but forgot about it...
I viewed it again and it made a lot more sense...
I'm sure I'll view it a dozen more times now...it is exactly what I am 
looking for...

Category Theory itself has, so far, defeated me...but I'm starting to 
understand Monads...
I tried reading "Category Theory" by Steve Awodey, which is aimed at 
Computer Scientists, etal and not Mathemeticians - but found it to be too 
abstract...
I ordered the following - they have all been highly recommended...I'll let 
you know:
  "Types and Programming Languages" by Benjamin C. Pierce
  "Basic Category Theory for Computer Scientists (Foundations of Computing)" 
by Benjamin C. Pierce
  "Categories and Computer Science (Cambridge Computer Science Texts)" by 
R. F. C. Walters

As mentioned, I am a long-time software consultant [30+ years] and I now 
have the luxary of taking off some time and doing some independent research 
on FP...
I've been studying Haskell and have implemented Hugs and Ghci on Windows and 
on an Imac...
Surprisingly, I found the Windows installations to be significantly 
easier...On Windows I'm using WinGhci and WinHugs...and WinVi32...
I wish that there was a Haskell editor but WinVi32 works well...
I was able to install the DB on Windows and got it to work, using "Real 
World Haskell" as a reference...
I've been unable to get TK installed on Windows...spent about a week trying 
and finally gave up...

I got interested in Haskell while working with an off-shore group that was 
implementing a Asp VB.Net and C# project and another Ruby on Rails project 
[it used Lamda Calculus and referenced Haskell].

I don' think that I'm going to make any money using Haskell but I suspect 
that there is a developing market for F# and LINQ - which utilize Visual 
Studio...
...so, I'll finish my Haskell study and hopefully will crack Monads and 
possibly Category Theory and then switch over to F# and LINQ...
I took a quick look at F# and its syntax looks a bit rough...

I'll start my marketing effort in a few months and pass on any leads to you 
that I find...

Good luck [to both of us]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Charles" <sean at objitsu.com>
To: "Patrick Lynch" <kmandpjlynch at verizon.net>
Cc: <beginners at haskell.org>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Haskell-beginners] PHP vs Haskell... a challenge!


> On 18/03/11 12:44, Patrick Lynch wrote:
>> Good morning,
>> ...hang in there, it's a long learning curve...I too am trying to figure 
>> out if you can make money with Haskell or F#...[I'm an independent 
>> software consultant]...
> Me too. When I am working. I am still figuring out if I can make money 
> period!
>
>> ...I picked up a copy of  "Category Theory" by Steve Awodey - it 
>> supposedly is geared to Computer Scientists and not Mathemeticians - but 
>> I couldn't understand it and my math is pretty good
>> [...and  I've had 4 years of college math]
> I bought "Purely function data structures" by Chris Okasaki and "The Road 
> to Logic..." and the yare both now i nthe bookshelf impressing visitors. 
> LMAO
>
>>
>> ...btw: did you neglect to include the link for 'monad:...the best video 
>> I've seen is this one' - could you please provide it.
>
> Curses, the link!
> Yes, the video is called "Don't fear the Monad"
> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Brian-Beckman-Dont-fear-the-Monads
>
> His method of explanation, reasoning and re-visiting the previous concepts 
> is really really good. It helped me a lot, that's not to say I don't fnid 
> myself fighting the compiler a lot but at least I know *why* I goofed if 
> not how to fix it yet.
>
> Understanding monads is so important in Haskell, I would say that it is, 
> IMO, the single biggest reason that it will never become truly mainstream 
> as it's too far up the BLUB scale for most people who cut code for a 
> living.
>
> I was thinking of rewriting the Boom Town Rats song "I don't link Mondays" 
> to "I don't like Monads" to see if it could help reinforce some concepts. 
> Then I sobered up! ;)
>
>
>