[Haskell-cafe] Re: Why?

[Gregory Crosswhite]

In fairness to John, his trying really hard to avoid causing offense might having something to do with the fact that he just had a couple dozen or so e-mails attacking him personally the last time he tried asking questions about Haskell and comparing it to O'Caml.

I have to confess that I myself had thought at the time that he was being a troll --- i.e., in this case a person who shows up on a mailing list of fans of a language and attacks it just to create a fuss --- since he had not only pointed out reasons why the language is flawed (which is not in itself unreasonable, as long as it is being done in a constructive manner), but asked us to prove that it *wasn't* flawed, and said things that implied that we only liked it because we had never seriously looked at any other language.  However, his recent e-mails on this have shown a serious willingness to really try to understand more about Haskell.  Thus, perhaps there may have simply been a miscommunication/misunderstanding earlier.

Cheers,
Greg


On Dec 10, 2009, at 8:47 AM, Sebastian Sylvan wrote:

> 
> 
> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 4:15 PM, John D. Earle <JohnDEarle at cox.net> wrote:
> To elaborate there is another language that is also a functional language. I won't mention the name so as not to offend anyone. It too is effect free, that is what makes it functional and it is a functional language in the true sense of the term, but it is not effect free in the sense that Haskell is effect free. This other language is effect free in every practical sense whereas Haskell is effect free in a strict sense.
> 
> Why would anyone be offended? I'd prefer if you tried to be clear about what you mean, rather than intentionally obscure your points to avoid causing offence. Be specific. What language? How is it different than Haskell w.r.t. purity? 
> 
> -- 
> Sebastian Sylvan
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