BAL paper available

[Jerzy Karczmarczuk]

Serge Mechveliani :
> 
> Paper announcement
> ------------------
> 
> The file
> http://www.botik.ru/pub/local/Mechveliani/basAlgPropos/haskellInCA1.ps.zip
> 
> contains more expanded explanations on the BAL (Basic Algebra Library)
> project
> (previous variant was  haskellInCA.ps.zip).
> 
> My real intention in whole this line of business was always not just
> to propose a standard but rather to discuss and to find, what may be
> an appropriate way to program mathematics in Haskell.
> The matter was always in parametric domains ...
> Whoever tried to program real CA in Haskell, would agree that such a
> problem exists.


Absolutely.
The point is that this seems - for various, perfectly understandable reasons -
not to be the priority of the implementors. 
Graphics/imagery neither.
Nor hard numeric work (efficient, easy to manipulate arrays).

And now I will say something horrible.

Despite my extremely deep respect for all people contributing to Haskell,
despite my love for the language etc. I begin to suspect that it has been
standardized too early, and if we (Sergey, other people interested in math, 
as Dylan Thurston, myself, etc., as well as people who want to do *serious*
graphics in a functional way) want an adapted functional language, either
we will have to wait quite long, or perhaps it is the time to invent another
language, with a more dynamic type system, with intrinsic graphic utilities,
and other goodies. For the moment - this is my personal viewpoint - it
might be better to write concrete applications, and papers describing those
applications. Then we shall perhaps know better what kind of structures,
algorithms, representations, genericities, etc. we REALLY need for practical
purposes.

Anyway, Sergey did a formidable work, and this should be acknowledged even
by those who on this list criticized his presentation. Thanks.


Jerzy Karczmarczuk
Caen, France