[Haskell-cafe] Which advanced Haskell topics interest you

[Manuel M T Chakravarty]

Most existing Haskell books and similar teaching material is aimed at programmers who are new to Haskell. This survey is to assess the community interest in teaching material covering advanced topics beyond the commonly taught introductory material.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE1QZFNRLTFMdkllYWIyR2FkYnRzZHc6MQ

Manuel


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[Kim-Ee Yeoh]

Something to consider is that it's not so much whether the material is basic, advanced, or intermediate; it's that the way it's being presented is boring and ineffective.

Take the Head First Java book, which was deliberately engineered to overcome precisely this hitherto neglected aspect of technical teaching. There's a lot we can learn from how that book was put together because it's done wonders for onboarding java developers.

A summary of what makes the book different:

http://books.google.com/books?id=lXEBwv0LYogC&pg=PR22&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3

-- Kim-Ee

[Stephen Tetley]

On 4 October 2012 18:04, Kim-Ee Yeoh <k...@atamo.com> wrote:
> Something to consider is that it's not so much whether the material is
> basic, advanced, or intermediate; it's that the way it's being presented is
> boring and ineffective.

I'd suggest there is enough range in the Haskell books now available,
that for most tastes, there's a beginners to intermediate book already
a given learner wouldn't consider boring. Of course different learners
will like different ones...

As for an advanced book, maybe limiting the subject to one domain
("concurrency" / "DSLs for graphics" / pick a favourite ...) might
make a better book than one targeting a mix of advanced topics.

[Vo Minh Thu]

2012/10/4 Stephen Tetley <stephen...@gmail.com>:

> On 4 October 2012 18:04, Kim-Ee Yeoh <k...@atamo.com> wrote:
>> Something to consider is that it's not so much whether the material is
>> basic, advanced, or intermediate; it's that the way it's being presented is
>> boring and ineffective.
>
> I'd suggest there is enough range in the Haskell books now available,
> that for most tastes, there's a beginners to intermediate book already
> a given learner wouldn't consider boring. Of course different learners
> will like different ones...
>
> As for an advanced book, maybe limiting the subject to one domain
> ("concurrency" / "DSLs for graphics" / pick a favourite ...) might
> make a better book than one targeting a mix of advanced topics.

PBRT (http://pbrt.org/) in Haskell would be awesome :)

[Kristopher Micinski]

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Stephen Tetley <stephen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4 October 2012 18:04, Kim-Ee Yeoh <k...@atamo.com> wrote:
>> Something to consider is that it's not so much whether the material is
>> basic, advanced, or intermediate; it's that the way it's being presented is
>> boring and ineffective.
>
> I'd suggest there is enough range in the Haskell books now available,
> that for most tastes, there's a beginners to intermediate book already
> a given learner wouldn't consider boring. Of course different learners
> will like different ones...
>
> As for an advanced book, maybe limiting the subject to one domain
> ("concurrency" / "DSLs for graphics" / pick a favourite ...) might
> make a better book than one targeting a mix of advanced topics.
>

Another problem is that the topics in these domains don't simply deal
with Haskell, they deal with real computer science that is not to be
understated.

Concurrency for Haskell involves tackling the real implementation
issues inherent in making things work, but also a good taste of
semantics, and actual concurrency. If you're approaching this from an
outsider's perspective (never taken a class in concurrency, never
heard of process algebra, etc..) the topic will be more difficult than
if you're "in the know" and want a survey of topics as they are
implemented in Haskell.

As far as "functional data structures" go, we already have an
excellent book, though it of course could use updating, along with
real world Haskell like treatment, but the core "thinking" is there.

kris

[Manuel M T Chakravarty]

Kristopher Micinski <krismi...@gmail.com>:

> On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Stephen Tetley <stephen...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> As for an advanced book, maybe limiting the subject to one domain
>> ("concurrency" / "DSLs for graphics" / pick a favourite ...) might
>> make a better book than one targeting a mix of advanced topics.
>
> Another problem is that the topics in these domains don't simply deal
> with Haskell, they deal with real computer science that is not to be
> understated.
>
> Concurrency for Haskell involves tackling the real implementation
> issues inherent in making things work, but also a good taste of
> semantics, and actual concurrency.

Those are very good points.

Thanks,
Manuel