We are offering the Haskell/FP related course: <br><a href="https://moocfellowship.org/submissions/the-dance-of-functional-programming-languaging-with-haskell-and-python" target="_blank">https://moocfellowship.org/submissions/the-dance-of-functional-programming-languaging-with-haskell-and-python</a><br>
which goes online if it gathers enough votes.<br><br>It is our contribution towards getting Haskell and FP up on MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).<br><br>The aim is:<br>1. To use Haskell as medium to understand and showcase functional programming<br>
2. To show how using Haskell <i>as a thinking language</i> can change the quality of programming in more conventional <i>coding languages</i> -- eg python.<br><br>It
has been designed in the spirit of using haskell to play with ideas,
and then idiomatically refine them for any implementation contexts
including Haskell.<br>
Therefore, in this course (classical) typeful functional programming
will take precedence over (modern) 'type hackery'. Some aspects of this
shift of emphasis is [3].<br>Also some paradigm/philosophy questions, eg why much-hyped paradigms like OOP are not such a good idea [4]<br>
<br>Functional Programming has never had it so good as today!<br>Books like RWH, implementations like ghc, and of course the Haskell language itself are all part of this 'Never Before.'<br><br>spj has often joked about 'avoiding success at all costs'. This may be somewhat tongue-in-cheek yet is also serious.<br>
As Haskell enters the mainstream a<span style="background-color:rgb(255,0,0)"><span></span></span>nd
begins to compete head-on-head with C, C++, Java, Python etc, we need to separate out these aspects:<br>
<br>1. Mastering Haskell is harder today than when FP was an academic passtime<br>
2. <i>Haskell-the-technology</i> is obscuring the possibilities and reach of <i>Haskell-for-CS<br>
</i>3. The elegant computer science (FP) + powerful
modern technology (ghc) is obscuring the questions of paradigm and
perspective that marked the inception of the field in an earlier era [1]<br><br>One
of the main intentions behind this course is to take cognizance of
these facts and work on the Haskell-learning-curve to make it accessible
to people with a wide swathe of interests/backgrounds.<br><br>So…<br>Those who are called to the above, Please Vote!<br>And those who are not called, also please vote [After all the choice is between this Haskell/FP course and none <wink> ]<br>
<br>Rusi<br>-----------------------------<br>
[1] Think of AI →
Lisp, Denotational Semantics → ML, Notation as a tool for thought → APL etc<br>[2] <a href="https://moocfellowship.org/submissions/the-dance-of-functional-programming-languaging-with-haskell-and-python" target="_blank">https://moocfellowship.org/submissions/the-dance-of-functional-programming-languaging-with-haskell-and-python</a><br>
[3] A shopping-list of topics in 'classic FP' : <a href="http://blog.languager.org/2012/10/functional-programming-lost-booty.html" target="_blank">http://blog.languager.org/2012/10/functional-programming-lost-booty.html</a><br>
Recursion as a wider concept than just recursive functions <a href="http://blog.languager.org/2012/05/recursion-pervasive-in-cs.html" target="_blank">http://blog.languager.org/2012/05/recursion-pervasive-in-cs.html</a><br>
[4] Folly of OOP <a href="http://blog.languager.org/2012/07/we-dont-need-no-ooooo-orientation-4.html" target="_blank">http://blog.languager.org/2012/07/we-dont-need-no-ooooo-orientation-4.html</a>