
Holding On and Letting Go - ghc
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hudak/journal/view/id/5538f5cea589b4216c04438a
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dang
We've changed the title to the one Cristina gave to her deeply moving article.

The submitted title was "Paul Hudak is dead". If someone confirms that Paul
Hudak has died, we can make the title say so. This article says only that he
is near death. How tasteless to jump the gun.

Edit: This little article deserves to be read and re-read on its own terms.
It's so specifically about _this_ moment—the prolonged transition. It's
beautiful and heartbreaking and a true gift of love, shared with everyone. I
don't think I've ever read anything like it, especially the second paragraph.
Thank you, Cristina.

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seanmcdirmid
Could you somehow put his name in the title, like maybe "Paul Hudak: Holding
On and Letting Go"? Many of us will recognize the name and have specific
concerns.

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fragmede
He was the principal designer of the Haskell programming language, as well as
being a CS professor at Yale, in case anyone is wondering.

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tomjen3
Thank you. As a web-dev I had never heard of the man, but the submitter seemed
to think that everybody knew him.

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steego
> the submitter seemed to think that everybody knew him

I get it. Sometimes, I forget not everybody knows my heroes. Personally
speaking, I think Paul Hudak is worthy of broader recognition given his
contributions to the functional programming community.

As a web developer, I'm sure you've read or worked with something based on
Reactive Programming. Paul Hudak and Conal Elliott and played a critical role
in defining the ideas behind reactive programming based on denotational design
and a continuous time model. Their first attempt to create a pure,
compositional, correct and performant FRP system in a purely functional
language has had a lasting impact in how people attempt to approach reactive
programming.

Nearly 20 years later, you can see this idea really begin to ripple through
the industry.

I think its important for developers to share stories about the giants of our
industry, both past and present. Our field has such an incredible history and
an even more incredible recent history unfolding right in front of us.

People like to tell the story that we're a field obsessed with fads, but I'm
not sure I entirely agree. When you begin to really look into the history of
various ideas and their communities, you'll be surprised at how long some
ideas have been incubating and how timeless their qualities really are.

I'm constantly amazed at all the great people people who work in our field. If
there was one way I'd like to see it grow, I'd love people to take the time to
tell the stories of these amazing people and explain their ideas.

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dsg42
His class convinced me to become a CS major. He made computer science
beautiful and fun, and was one of the kindest professors I ever had. Plus he'd
take down college kids at basketball up until he was diagnosed with cancer.

We were all so happy to have him back when he beat cancer the first time. I
can't believe he won't be around to touch another generation of students.

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simonista
How sad. I got to hear him talk in person about functional reactive programing
for musical interfaces, and it's a wonderful talk and really neat ideas. If
you're interested, I believe this is the talk:
[https://vimeo.com/96744621](https://vimeo.com/96744621). Rest in peace.

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nickysielicki
I am speechless. This piece is without fault. The emotion is coming through in
full force. Thank you to Cristina, for sharing at such a vulnerable time. It
changed my night.

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msie
You can read what I believe are Paul's own words in the earlier entries.

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sgt
I hate to say it, but I clicked on this link anticipating an anti-Go article.
Very sad read. RIP.

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seesomesense
He will be remembered in the Haskell community.

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dav43
Pulls, and then tears on your heart strings. Worth a quick read.

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boothead
That was absolutely beautiful.

