[Haskell-cafe] Data.Time

[briand at aracnet.com]

On Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:15:28 +0300
Yitzchak Gale <gale at sefer.org> wrote:

> 
> The biggest shortcoming, in my opinion, is that the documentation
> assumes that the reader is very familiar with the Haskell type
> system, and with viewing type signatures and instance lists as an
> integral and central part of the documentation.
> 
> In particular, Haskell's standard numeric type classes and the
> conversion functions between them play a central role in the API
> of Data.Time. But you wouldn't realize that unless you have read
> the type signatures and instance lists in the Haddocks very
> carefully, and have thought about it for a while.

This is exactly right.

> 
> Another problem, as Malcolm pointed out, is that because of the
> sheer size of the library, a quick-start guide for the common
> cases would be extremely helpful for newcomers.

That would be very, very helpful.  I had a few working examples things were much better.  Finding a starting place, any starting place, proved to be quite elusive.  Also the fact that asking for the current time traps you in IO hell, doesn't help, although it's clear that it should be that way.

Brian