An Intro to Haskell for Ruby Developers

http://www.free-variable.org/2012/05/an-intro-to-haskell-for-ruby-programmers/

by markprovan • 14 years ago

31 12 14 years ago

mratzloff• 14 years ago

Sorry about this comment, but I don't think you achieved what you wanted with this article. It's a bit rambling and unfocused, and you don't really ever talk to your audience in language they will understand without a prior background in functional programming. Case in point: there's plenty of Haskell, but the first Ruby is 3/4 of the way down. It would be more effective if you took one or two concepts in Haskell and explained them in detail, starting with Ruby.

chrismealy• 14 years ago

I agree. I'd like to see something like "how to parse an apache log file in haskell".

This is the best haskell intro I've found:

http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters

basicxman• 14 years ago

The typography also drives me insane. Add some margin between headings and text, reduce kerning, get rid of p::first-letter { font-size: 200%; }

aethr• 14 years ago

Apparently the theme was designed by these guys: http://www.tomsskylinedesign.com

I think the style on that page speaks for itself.

FuzzyDunlop• 14 years ago

I got several paragraphs in and thought, where exactly is the Ruby?

Further to that, having inline code (without any monospace formatting), and talking about binary trees as an intro to Haskell, well, I would suspect that it alienates the people it tries to introduce.

I'll own up to my ignorance, of course. I've no CS degree, I've encountered no occasion where I'd implement CS classics like linked lists and binary trees. My understanding goes as far as sort of vaguely recognising them. I'm not going to boast, but I don't doubt I'm alone here.

I couldn't finish the article, because the content didn't match the expectations the title set.

dons• 14 years ago

It's possible that you don't roll your own custom trees and other data types because your language of choice doesn't make using your own data structures easy.

zem• 14 years ago

binary trees actually make a fantastic hook to interest people in haskell, because operations like defining, constructing and balancing trees are so much easier than in most languages.

jfarmer• 14 years ago

If you're telling a story, don't digress. In particular, don't have a six-paragraph section entitled "Digression."

A challenge for the author: summarize the article in a single sentence that any Ruby developer would understand.

Symmetry• 14 years ago

I was expecting this to be like "How to read Haskell like Python", but of course it took the exact opposite approach.

http://blog.ezyang.com/2011/11/how-to-read-haskell/

An Intro to Haskell for Ruby Developers

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