[Haskell-cafe] Haskell and other languages (was: Learning Haskell)

[Graham Klyne]

Jimmie Houchin wrote:
> Haskell looks like a very interesting language. I am only so-so with
> Python and I thought that maybe if instead of spending sufficient time
> to get proficient with Python, I could invest a similar time (more or
> less) and get reasonably (pragmatically speaking) proficient with
> Haskell. I know I may never understand the theory and maths behind the
> design, but I believe I can appreciate the design and be a decent user
> of the tools it provides.

FWIW, I learned Haskell a couple of years ago, having previously programmed in
Python and (many) other languages.  Recently, I've been using Python for a
project (the choice being determined by both technical and non-technical
issues), and find my Python programming style is now heavily influenced (for the
better, I hope ;-) by my Haskell programming experience.

A drawback of using Haskell is the limited availability of support libraries,
although many people here are working hard to improve that situation.  I'm doing
Python work with a web application framework (Turbogears - in the same general
space as Ruby/Rails, but different), and as yet I don't see anything like it in
Haskell.  It would be great to see a lightweight "full stack" web application
framework for Haskell:  I believe many of the pieces exist, and Haskell could be
a supremely effective language for tying them together.

#g

-- 
Graham Klyne
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