[Haskell-cafe] First steps in Haskell

Daniel Carrera daniel.carrera at zmsl.com
Mon Dec 19 05:08:45 EST 2005


Wolfgang Jeltsch wrote:
> In addition, Haskells requirement of a main variable is nothing new.

Certainly nothing new. I just wish that the documentation I read had 
told me about it.

>>`ghci fac.hs` doesn't give any errors. I don't understand why loading
>>the file like that is ok but typing the entries is not.
> 
> Because the interactive environments are about evaluating expressions based on 
> declarations which were made in Haskell source files, not about creating new 
> declarations.  Expressions and declarations are just two different things.  I 
> think, Cale explained why it might be a bad idea to allow entering 
> declarations at the command line.

Ok. I think I understand. I'm sure this will make more sense later.


>>This might be a problem for people exporing the language.
> 
> Hmm, don't know.

I think that usability is important. I'm a big fan of usability. You 
don't want to give artificial barriers to people who are just starting 
to explore the language. Those are the people most likely to turn away. 
Make the first step as simple as possible. The mini-tutorial I posted to 
the list would be enough. It's little more than a paragraph, and it gets 
the user past that first step.

Best,
Daniel.
-- 
      /\/`) http://oooauthors.org
     /\/_/  http://opendocumentfellowship.org
    /\/_/
    \/_/    I am not over-weight, I am under-tall.
    /


More information about the Haskell-Cafe mailing list