[Haskell-cafe] Channel9 Interview: Software Composability and theFu ture of Languages

[Chris Eidhof]

> Haskell is _not_ inherently hard - any more than any other
> programming language. But it is different. So right now,
> Haskell is hard only because we need more
> documentation that is designed to make Haskell
> seem easy.
Well, I think it's harder to get a program compiled in Haskell than  
in Java, for example. It's not too hard, although debugging might be  
a little difficult. I think this has to do with the type system.  
Althought it sounds bad, it's actually a good thing. Once you get a  
Haskell program compiled, chances are much higher that it's correct.  
You do a bit more work up front, but chances of a bug are way lower.

The way I see it, programming in Haskell is an investment. If you're  
from a OOP-background, some (trivial) things might take a lot more  
time. But in the end, it does make you more productive. You spend  
less time tracking bugs, and it's easier to refactor. Not everybody  
is willing to make an investment when they've got something that works.

For example, if you know one imperative language, you can switch to  
another without taking too much risk. On the other hand, if you  
switch to a language that is completely different, you don't know if  
it will get your job done. It doesn't feel safe.

-chris