Ask HN: Is it worth to learn Haskell?

7 points·antoaravinth··7 comments

Hi HN,

I'm seeing the statement like "Haskell is best for functional programming" etc on the internet, I'm wondering whether its really a worth in learning this language?

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It's quite balanced choice of programming language to learn (when you already do programming). It's different enough from very mainstream languages (not so boring as learning C# after Java), but not completely alien (not Hoon, Red or Coq). It's not enough popular to be used by copy-paste coders in bodyshops however not obscure and often considered "mainstream". It's created by academy (and not by website designers) but practical enough. It's old enough to not treat it as hype but not obsolete (and looks quite modern).

This is a false dichotomy. You don't need to choose yes or no. Why don't you start working through a beginning Haskell book/tutorial and see what you learn? There's a lot of new concepts and ways of thinking in just the first few hours of Haskell (if you are coming from imperative languages). If you like it, keep going.

My thought is that learning a programming language is not a binary yes or no. It's a gradient of experience with the language. Enjoy the journey!

Thanks for your valuable feedback! I'm definitely going to learn it.

If you really want to understand programming. Learn enough Haskell to implement Scheme.

That's a very good idea. Are there any tutorial which does the same thing?

This one is really good: http://www.stephendiehl.com/llvm/

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Write_Yourself_a_Scheme_in_48_...

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