[Haskell-cafe] Unifcation and matching in Abelian groups

[John D. Ramsdell]

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 9:08 AM, Jules Bean<jules at jellybean.co.uk> wrote:

> I don't find layout a problem, with good editor support. I agree it's a
> problem, with poor editor support. That's all I meant.

Let's put this issue in perspective.  For those few Haskell
programmers that do find layout irritating, I'm sure we would all
agree it's but a minor irritation.  The real downside of layout is if
non-Haskell programmers use it as an excuse to dismiss the language.
I happen to think that Data Parallel Haskell has great potential  for
use in high performance computations.  I'd hate to see a bunch of
Fortraners not try DPH because of Haskell syntax.

In terms of irritating programmers, I think Wirth takes the cake.
After advancing the art with Pascal, he correctly saw its lack of
modules as a problem, and he solved the issue with the Modular-2
programming language.  He made the improvement, but also required
programmers to type keywords in all caps!  I tried Modular-2 and
quickly tired of using the caps lock key.  Maude has this problem too.
 Very irritating.

John