Ask HN: Is Haskell Worth Learning? - dhkts1
======
yesenadam
I'd say it depends on which languages you already know/have been exposed to.

After downloading some software written in Haskell this week, I installed GHC
and got some books on Haskell. Got sick of constantly hearing about how cool
it is! After reading a few dozen pages, I thought it looked a _lot_ like
(Standard) ML, which I got into a couple of years ago. So I googled
differences between Haskell and ML, and they indeed sound not-so-very-
different. So I gave up on that idea for now. I was after a language very
different from any I knew before. Maybe next year. (In recent years have
gotten into Lisp, Prolog, Forth, ML, Tcl etc - each totally different from
each other and from languages I knew before.)

 _A language that doesn 't affect the way you think about programming is not
worth knowing._ \- Alan Perliss

~~~
dllthomas
I initially picked up Haskell because I hadn't done anything that was lazy by
default, which - when you focus on pulling at that thread - can be a pretty
big difference from any of the ones you've mentioned.

The syntax is pretty close to ML, for sure.

Ultimately, it's the type system and the pervasive immutability that I miss
most when I'm working in other languages. The ML type system is related, but
the differences (in both directions!) are interesting.

------
nnoitra
Absolutely yes, if you have only been working with langs such as C, Java,
Javascript etc. Basically it will fundamentally shift your thinking.

Honestly though, I prefer ocaml much more than haskell because it has a
cleaner syntax.

~~~
tome
> I prefer ocaml much more than haskell because it has a cleaner syntax.

That's interesting. One typically hears the other way round. Could you give
some examples?

------
TXV
If you were never exposed to functional programming before, learning Haskell
will give you a whole new perspective on how you write code, and I bet it will
make you a better programmer just because of that.

With that said, in Europe I ever came across exactly zero job ads that require
Haskell, and exactly one in Singapore. In North America / Bay Area it might be
more common though.

------
PaulHoule
Depends on your goals. Really I think Prolog, Constraint Handling Rules and
similar systems are more interesting.

------
diehunde
If it's only for fun sure. Otherwise no.

------
quda
No. Try Elixir. Much more useful in the real world.

~~~
splintercell
He said worth learning, not worth using, and Haskell is absolutely worth
learning.

------
bjourne
It depends.

------
karmakaze
F#

------
MarsTeam
Yes

------
jonas21
No

