[Haskell-beginners] LYAHFGG, chapter 11 question

[Matthew Moppett]

My own experience with Learn You a Haskell was different from Jeff's. I
found the stuff on applicatives difficult, and couldn't see their point
much, so I just kept going with the book without bothering to understand
them fully. Monads I found a lot easier to understand and much easier to
see their point.  I don't think you need to understand applicatives before
you understand monads; in fact, I think it's easier the other way round.
And monads seem to be used much more often than applicatives in Haskell. I
eventually got back to applicatives when I was mucking around with Parsec.
In the context of parsing, it was a lot easier to understand how they work
and why they're useful.


On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Jeff C. Britton <jcb at iteris.com> wrote:

>  I had originally encountered problems at this point myself.  I lost
> motivation because I had just had this feeling that programming with
> applicatives was just not going to be fun, and it was beginning to seem
> like Haskell programming might involve a lot of this.  I put the book down
> for about 1 year.  Somewhere I came across an article on Monads that
> changed my mind.  I started over and am now almost done with Chapter 13.
> This time around things are looking a lot cooler.  I think chapters 11,12,
> and 13 may lack the motivational information to keep one going.  I can say
> that the author Miran Lipovaca really does a great job of explaining this
> material.  I don't think you are going to find a better source.  Absolutely
> every step of the way is laid out in painstaking detail.  Plus there are
> constant reminders of material that was just covered that is relevant to
> the immediate situation.  All I can say is go slow and make sure you
> understand every detail before proceeding.  Keep at it regularly so as not
> to forget important terms.  Go back and reread if necessary.  Have the
> confidence that it will be worthwhile.  The Monad chapters are little bit
> more interesting, but you will need to understand the applicatives first.
> I learned a new word today, "Sisyphean."
>
>
>
> *From:* Beginners [mailto:beginners-bounces at haskell.org] *On Behalf Of *
> Frank
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 26, 2014 7:33 PM
> *To:* The Haskell-Beginners Mailing List - Discussion of primarily
> beginner-level topics related to Haskell
> *Subject:* [Haskell-beginners] LYAHFGG, chapter 11 question
>
>
>
> About "Learn You a Haskell ...", is it My imagination or is chapter 11
> absurdly long and/or thick? I can (and have) read a 100+ page U.S. Supreme
> Court ruling, readily understand it, and be able to explain it in plain
> English, with next to zero trouble. I spend every work day reading,
> parsing, interpreting, and using, the ISO C++ standard. I *taught* My
> undergraduate Physics IV class while simultaneously taking it. Yet, chapter
> 11 feels as if it goes on and on to the point I easily forget what I read
> just a few lines before, rendering comprehension of the same an almost
> Sisyphean task. Is it just Me? Am I just tired? Is there an alternative
> resource for understanding the concepts that particular chapter presents?
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Frank D. Martinez
>
>
>
> --
> P.S.: I prefer to be reached on BitMessage at
> BM-2D8txNiU7b84d2tgqvJQdgBog6A69oDAx6
>
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