[Haskell-cafe] Which advanced Haskell topics interest you

Kristopher Micinski krismicinski at gmail.com
Thu Oct 4 21:20:38 CEST 2012


On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Stephen Tetley <stephen.tetley at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4 October 2012 18:04, Kim-Ee Yeoh <ky3 at atamo.com> wrote:
>> Something to consider is that it's not so much whether the material is
>> basic, advanced, or intermediate; it's that the way it's being presented is
>> boring and ineffective.
>
> I'd suggest there is enough range in the Haskell books now available,
> that for most tastes, there's a beginners to intermediate book already
> a given learner wouldn't consider boring. Of course different learners
> will like different ones...
>
> As for an advanced book, maybe limiting the subject to one domain
> ("concurrency" / "DSLs for graphics" / pick a favourite ...) might
> make a better book than one targeting a mix of advanced topics.
>

Another problem is that the topics in these domains don't simply deal
with Haskell, they deal with real computer science that is not to be
understated.

Concurrency for Haskell involves tackling the real implementation
issues inherent in making things work, but also a good taste of
semantics, and actual concurrency.  If you're approaching this from an
outsider's perspective (never taken a class in concurrency, never
heard of process algebra, etc..) the topic will be more difficult than
if you're "in the know" and want a survey of topics as they are
implemented in Haskell.

As far as "functional data structures" go, we already have an
excellent book, though it of course could use updating, along with
real world Haskell like treatment, but the core "thinking" is there.

kris



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