[Haskell-cafe] EduHaskell

[Stuart A. Kurtz]

Dear Martin,

I also teach Haskell to college freshmen, albeit in a self-selected "honors" class. My typical student has some programming background, and a high level of mathematical aptitude.

The first few weeks were a bit easier in the days before burning bridges, but my sense is the things are starting to improve again. Certainly, I think the benefits of the improved Prelude far outweigh the pedagogical costs imposed on the proud few, who like us, are crazy enough to teach Haskell to 18 year olds.

1. The error messages in ghc 8.2.1 strike me as clearer and more concise.
2. I'm changing the way I teach.

My experience in teaching Haskell is that have to introduce types early, and the only real question is "how early." We're experimenting with introducing types (including simple parametric types and typeclasses) in Lecture 1 (tomorrow) this year, in what my colleague Ravi Chugh and I refer to as the "types earliest" approach. 

What we're aiming for in Lecture 1 is an overview, not a deep understanding of Haskell's type system. Still, we *are* introducing typeclasses (albeit without talking about how they're implemented), and we are sketching out how type inference works, so students can see how conflicts arise.

I'd send a URL, but it won't be stable until tomorrow.

Peace,

Stu

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Stuart A. Kurtz
Professor, Department of Computer Science and the College
Director of Undergraduate Studies for Computer Science
The University of Chicago