gists

The syntax takes some getting used to but it's useful to point out that the core language is pretty small. Here are some links which might help: http://www.haskellforall.com/2014/10/how-to-desugar-haskell-... https://github.com/kqr/gists/blob/master/articles/simple-syn...

There's a nice writeup describing the simplicity of Haskell syntax. [0] Haskell has 21 reserved keywords that cannot be used as names for values or types. This is a relatively low number (Erlang has 28, OCaml has 48, Java has 50, C++ has 63. In particular, some of the operators you mention represent such fundamental and common tasks that it makes sense to have a shortened form. I'm in agreement that descriptive names are preferable in general, but not always. Haskell syntax is quite simple and predictable (I say that as a former Rubyist); it only appears strange in the beginning because there are so many new concepts to learn. [0] https://github.com/kqr/gists/blob/master/articles/simple-syn...

I've been learning Haskell for the last year and a half, though I've been working with functionally inspired languages for 8 years. Haskell is wonderful, easily the most fun I've had learning a language in 20 years. I'd advise not getting distracted by monads and other glamorous parts of the language. Monads are pretty abstract, and they won't likely make much sense until you've written enough Haskell to feel the pain-points they address. I've learned a lot by reading blog posts from these people: * Aditya Bhargava: http://adit.io * Gabriel Gonzalez: http://www.haskellforall.com/ * Joseph Abrahamson: http://jspha.com/ * kqr (I don't know this person's full name. Avatar not withstanding, I'm pretty sure kqr isn't David Bowie): https://github.com/kqr/gists * Edward Kmett: https://www.fpcomplete.com/user/edwardk Most of all, I advise not get