[Haskell-cafe] Is Haskell a 5GL?

[Neil Mitchell]

Hi,

> 3GLs: programming based on algorithms (C, Java, ...)
There are algorithms in Haskell

> 4GSs: domain-specific languages (SQL,...)
There are plenty of domain specific languages in Haskell, I'd call
Parsec one of them

> 5GLs: automatic problem solving (Mathematica, Prolog,...)
I wouldn't say it "automatically" solves the problems. But I would say
that the high degree of abstraction and compositionality afforded by a
pure language means that its easy to reuse other peoples solutions,
which I guess is having it automatically solved.

>            and/or visual programming (Visual Basic,...)
I can only assume you are a) joking, or b) not a visual basic user.
While Visual Basic is a much insulted language, I have a soft spot for
it. However, its not a Visual programming language - its a language
which happens to have a GUI API and a bit of IDE support. Its
resolutely a 3GL, roughly akin to Java, in my opinion.

> The question is: how strong is the influence of laziness in everyday
> Haskell programming?
I'd say very strong, lots of times a "where" is used thats making use
of laziness.

Thanks

Neil