On: Learn Python The Hard Way: a new book by Zed Shaw

[jrockway]

"Bad" is more of an attitude than anything you learn. You can be a good programmer before you ever know what Python is. And you can be a bad programmer even after writing 84 monad tutorials.

[zedshaw → jrockway]

Well of course you'd be a bad programmer after just 84 monad tutorials. You need at least like 300, maybe 385 just to finally get it.

Sheesh, don't you know anything?

[ynniv → zedshaw]

I still don't fully grok monads, but I think this is due to not having programmed in Haskell. Thus I conceptualize monads as a hole in an infinite plane. People (Haskell programmers) who deal with this infinite plane understand the hole to be an essential feature to move things from side to side. People who don't live with this plane wonder why the hell people think that a hole is so damn useful.

[steveklabnik → ynniv]

You don't need to really grok Haskell to grok monads. It's just that that's where they're most useful...

If you cared to hear my explanation, I'd tell you. (it involves a burrito...)

[yummyfajitas → ynniv]

To grok monads, don't read a monad tutorial. Just write some code in haskell and monads will become clear very quickly.