[Haskell-beginners] Haskell as a useful practical 'tool' for intelligent non-programmers

[Ertugrul Söylemez]

Lorenzo Bolla <lbolla at gmail.com> wrote:

> If you find programming interesting (as we all here do, I believe),
> than, once you've familiarized with Python, you should definitely give
> Haskell a try: I'm a beginner in Haskell, but I can say it's been the
> most enjoyable language to learn so far.

This is a weird recommendation.  Let's see:

  1. Learn Python (required time: p),
  2. Unlearn Python (required time: u),
  3. Learn Haskell (required time: h).

Python knowledge will be in your way of learning Haskell.  That's why
the second step is unlearning Python.  Now humans are not hard drives.
You can expect 'u' to be much greater than 'p', because you can't
command your brain to "rm -rf" the Python knowledge.  While learning
Python in isolation may take three days and learning Haskell may take
two weeks, learning Haskell after Python will take months or years.  The
more fluent you get in Python, the worse it will be.

In other words:  If you are not a programmer and want to learn Haskell
fast, learn it as your first language.  Otherwise you will considerably
increase the time needed to learn it, and you will also increase the
give-up probability, because despite the similar syntax Haskell is very
different.


Greets,
Ertugrul

-- 
nightmare = unsafePerformIO (getWrongWife >>= sex)
http://ertes.de/
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