An OOP Developer’s First Impressions

“2016 is the year I dive into functional programming!”

I told myself in January — then I looked up and realized I only had two months left in the year. So with the below quote in mind I’m finally getting to it.

“The best time time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second best time was nineteen years ago; the twentieth-first best time is now.” 一位匿名的中国人

My academic interests lean heavily towards Artificial Intelligence, so a programming paradigm focused on patterns seems like a productive fit for expanding my skill-set.

That’s the hope, at least, and thus a desire to learn Haskell which seems to have a vibrant community. Sure, it may have a logo that reminds me of a grocery store chain more than its actual inspiration (the lambda character λ), but it looks, from the outside at least, very accessible.

In fact, a quick Google search reveals a mind-blowing online tutorial promising quick exposure to Haskell: TryHaskell.org

Let’s see how an OOP developer handles an initial exposure to functional programming with Haskell.

Note: In all seriousness, these are my first, amateur reactions to functional programming coming from a long background in procedural and OOP. Nothing I say is meant to deride the work of the Haskell community or the tutorial: I guarantee any confusions are genuine first learnings.

tldr; Everything goes up in flames in Part 5.

1. Kudos to Chris Done: This is a Slick Tutorial

First impression: this is a great intro.

The website does a good job of not getting in your way — from the get-go you know what to do and what you’re expecting to happen.