[Haskell-cafe] Re: Interesting new user perspective

[Jonathan Cast]

On Mon, 2008-10-13 at 18:38 +0100, Andrew Coppin wrote:
> Ryan Ingram wrote:
> > I would go further than that.  To Andrew's question, I say:
> >
> > Yes, we want to encourage "these people" to learn Haskell.  We want to
> > smash all their expectations into tiny little pieces.  We want their
> > brains to explode.  And after that, we want to take what is left, pick
> > it up off the floor, and put it back in as something new and better!
> >
> > People who didn't realize just what it was that they were getting
> > into, once they come around, tend to be even more vocal supporters
> > among their peers.  They've finally "gotten it" and want to share that
> > experience with others.
> >
> > We just need to communicate that learning Haskell will make you a
> > better programmer, no matter what expectations you have going in.
> >   
> 
> Trouble is, certain programmers expect to master everything in 20 
> seconds flat ("Learn C++ in 21 days", anyone?), and if they try to learn 
> an "obscure" and "irrelevant" language like Haskell and don't "get it" 
> in 20 seconds flat, they'll go "bah, stupid language" and move on. I'm 
> pretty sure there's no way to simplify Haskell to the point where people 
> can master it in 20 seconds, so these people are pretty much a lost cause.
> 
> Thus, I would concentrate my efforts on people who are actually willing 
> to make the effort required to learn. Maybe that's just me...

See, now *this* I agree with completely.

jcc