[Haskell-cafe] about Haskell code written to be "too smart"

[Miguel Mitrofanov]

Well, I'd say that there is something close to the Perl syndrome, in  
some sense. After all, code IS usually very smart. The difference is  
that in Perl all smartness is about knowing how the computer works, or  
how the interpreter works. In Haskell, instead, the smartness is about  
knowing - or inventing - the general setting in which the problem  
looks less complex.

On 24 Mar 2009, at 20:41, Manlio Perillo wrote:

> Hi.
>
> In these days I'm discussing with some friends, that mainly use  
> Python as programming language, but know well other languages like  
> Scheme, Prolog, C, and so.
>
> These friends are very interested in Haskell, but it seems that the  
> main reason why they don't start to seriously learning it, is that  
> when they start reading some code, they feel the "Perl syndrome".
>
> That is, code written to be "too smart", and that end up being  
> totally illegible by Haskell novice.
>
> I too have this feeling, from time to time.
>
>
> Since someone is starting to write the Haskell coding style, I  
> really suggest him to take this "problem" into strong consideration.
>
>
> Manlio
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