[Haskell-cafe] Why Haskell is beautiful to the novice

[Donn Cave]

Quoth Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>,
...
> Manipulating storage is as fundamental to common computers as sequential
> operation, so if you're going to drop Haskell for not having one, you
> should also drop Python for not having the other.

For sure.  That `step by step, like computers' argument seems more like
a rationalization, for the basic proposition that Python is easier to
deal with.  Which may be true, but that wasn't the question.

I've never used Smalltalk, but assuming that its virtues had something
to do with the large number of subsequent OOP languages, that might
be one to look at.

I think it's fair to say that Haskell is an exceptionally interesting
language, for those who are interested in such things.  I wouldn't bet
my life that a novice would see anything beautiful about it.

Historically, many of the guys I worked with, I guess including myself,
were attracted to assembly language for reasons that were in no way
practical.  It's terrible for productivity and even worse for maintenance,
but we looked forward to the chance to write a few lines of it now and then.
I'm not proposing an assembly language course, maybe just trying to shed
some light on the distinction between a "good" (practical) programming
choice and an esthetic choice.

	Donn