[Haskell-cafe] philosophy of Haskell

[Michael Mossey]

When I started to study Haskell, I was surprised that so much emphasis was 
placed on simple things. Monads were introduced to me as basically a 
wrapper, and a bind function that unwrapped something and wrapped something 
else back up again. I didn't understand what the fuss was about. Later I 
saw the amazing feats of expressiveness that were possible. I scratched my 
head in confusion---"Wait, say that again?"

Here's a quote from Bertrand Russell about philosophy (read: Haskell). He's 
actually being humorous, but it applies, in a way:

"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to 
seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical no one will 
believe it."