On Ruby

"Real World Haskell? Isn't that an oxymoron?" I heard the question asked in one way or another many times as I lugged the book between meetings (looking for spare minutes to read it). As the authors explained in my Real World Haskell interview, Functional Programming languages generally and Haskell specifically, might have once be confined to the ivory tower but no longer. And this book is one great way to help bring the benefits of haskell to your coding projects.

I'm still not sold on Static vs. Dynamic Typing, and Ruby remains my language of choice, but I've got to say that Haskell is not nearly as intimidating as it once was. Maybe with enough intentional use it will be a tool I reach for more often without having to think about it.

Real World Haskell is a big, solid book with a lot to commend it. It's well organized, easy to read, and loaded with good examples. Best of all, it's written by long-term members of the Haskell community, so you're getting idiomatic code and well reasoned explanations by guys who have been there. The only down side is a somewhat weak index.

If you're a rubyist looking to understand more about Haskell or Functional Programming in general, this is the book for you. In fact, if you're a rubyist, you should be looking at this kind of book in general. I can't wait to see RWH reading groups start up within Ruby Brigades ... it will certainly make us better programmers.

Click here to Tweet this article

---

This post is sponsored by Cowork Utah, a member-based alternative for “cubicle adverse”solopreneurs, writers, web developers, designers and other independents who prefer working in a stimulating environment away from home. We’re free agents who collaborate while maintaining our autonomy. Specifically, our primary focus revolves around web 2.0 social media tools and strategies.

A long time ago, I was an aficionado of a language that told me that the three traits of a great programmer are laziness, impatience, and hubris. Then I discovered Ruby, which taught me about the Principle Of Least Surprise and that programming should be fun. Now, in Real World Haskell, Bryan O'Sullivan, John Goerzen, and Don Stewart promise me three things as I read their book to learn about Haskell: novelty, power, and enjoyment. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

After conducting an interview with Bryan, John, and Don I kept looking for a break in my reading list where I could put RWH, and I finally decided to make the room instead of waiting for it to occur on its own. Yesterday, my copy arrived.

I was immediately struck by the size of the book. Programming in Haskell (which I wrote about, briefly, here ) is a relatively modest 155 pages while RWH weighs in at 640 — and what I've read so far is very approachable.

Reading through the ToC and Introduction, I've built the following list of questions I want to keep in mind as I read:

• What value do I gain from strict, static typing? How does this compare to the value I gain from strict, dynamic typing?
• What about Lazy Evaluation?
• What about Polymorphism?
• Why bother with whitespace?
• How do I think in Haskell?
• What about Composition and code re-use? (How does it conpare to Factor/Forth?)
• How do I keep code readable? How is this different than in Ruby?
• How does the FFI work? How does this compare to Ruby's?
• How does concurrent programming work? How does this compare withErlang? With Ruby?
• How does STM fit into things? What should this teach me about threads? About Actors?
• How do I profile, benchmark, and optimize?

And of course, the biggest question of them all: When should I be reaching for haskell instead of Ruby, bash, or C?

I've also put together three little goals for myself. By the time I finish the book, I want to use haskell to write:

• a wiki
• a twitter scanner
• a log analyzer

I'll try to write about my progress through the book, insights into the questions above, and progress toward my three goals. Feel free to share your thoughts as well.

Click here to Tweet this article