[Haskell-cafe] Comparison with Clean?

[Daniel Carrera]

Hi Jerzy,

Thank you for your thorough response. I will archive it and come back to 
it as a reference. As I learn more about FP features (e.g. Monads) I'll 
be able to get more from your description.

But just a quick note:

> 4. A general observation about the use of both languages by a beginner who
>   wants to learn on examples:
>   Haskell disposes of two decent interactive interpreters: Hugs and GHCI
>   permitting to test directly small expression, to ask about their types,
>   etc. which is often useful for debugging, and for grasping the essentials
>   on small exercises.

For me, right now, this makes a world of a difference. I'm experimenting 
with small exercises on Hugs right now.

>   It must be admitted though that neither is really an *interactive* 

Yeah, I noticed... ;-)  But I recently learned about a neat workaround:

I have a file called Test.hs and load it with ':l Test'. Then I start 
exprimenting. I make a small change and type ':l Test' again. So it's 
almost interactive, and not excessively akward.


I think I'll learn a bit more using Haskell, and then I'll be in a 
better position to decide where to continue (probably with Haskell at 
first).


> Now, for the people who asked those questions. Choose whatever you wish,
> if your philosophy is "I have no time to learn two languages, only one,
> so tell me which one is better", then I have some VERY STRONG statements:
> 
> * Whoever says to you "H is *better* that C" (or vice-versa) is LYING.

:-)
Well, I merely ask for general impressions and go from there.


> * If you want to learn FP, you should have a good view on the principal
>  paradigms, not on particular syntactic constructs. Then, some knowledge
>  of two different languages is more than helpful.

Ok. Good to know.

> * Learning of languages is a big adventure and pleasure.

That's why I'm here.  :-)

I have a strong preference for languages with clear, simple models. For 
example, I like C better than C++, and Ruby better than Python. Even if 
something might take fewer lines in C++ than in C, or be faster in 
Python than in Ruby, I like the feeling that I understand what I'm 
doing. And I see elegance in a simple model with few exceptions.


> * Here and elsewhere both H and C communities are helpful, people who
>  know, answer all questions without pretensions nor suggestions that 
> they  are respectful gurus bothered by beginners (which happens too 
> often on  other "language-oriented" newgroups I visit from time to 
> time...).

Indeed. I've been pleasantly surprised by how friendly this group has 
been. I've learned a lot already, and now I have a lot of resources to 
continue my exploration of Haskell and FP.

Incidentally, the Ruby community is friendly too. :-)

Cheers,
Daniel.