--- /dev/null
+---
+postid: 010
+title: Haskell, the Lego of programming
+author: Lucian Mogoșanu
+excerpt: In which I argue the utility of functional programming in education and day-to-day activities.
+date: September 22, 2013
+tags: asphalt, tech
+---
+
+I'm unsure of what train of thought this article with follow, or what its main
+idea is supposed to be. But here I go.
+
+Haskell is a functional programming language. It's "functional" as in
+"mathematical function", and it was designed by mathematicians. It's not the
+only one (I'm sure most of you remember the great Lisp), but it's special in
+its own way, mostly due to the fact that the guys that made it took some rather
+obscure concepts and integrated them into the language.
+
+Haskell not only describes programs as functions, but it also describes them as
+equations. That's far, far away from what one would expect from most mainstream
+programming languages, although it's not *that* special: we all did it before
+in school when writing down function definitions, or trying to find a
+reasonable explanation of why some polynomial has no real roots, or doing
+integral calculus, and so on. Haskell is a computational expression of these
+concepts, nothing more, but nothing less either, since it's quite a big thing
+to be able to describe hard, formal facts as programs.
+
+Programming with functions, not any functions, but some really weird morphisms
+that have *types* attached to them, is very much like fitting Lego pieces
+together[^1]: you combine a couple of little pieces to make a bigger piece,
+which then you use to make something useful, or maybe just fun. Of course, like
+all programs, Haskell programs have their own set of problems, given that there
+is no abstraction heaven in reality; more like an abstraction hell, actually.
+However, under a keen mind and a pair of trained fingers, such a language can
+provide a smooth, sometimes even enjoyable ride through hell.
+
+So what's the point of all this?
+
+Well, it's possible that you have a child, and he or she is, at his or her
+fragile age, very open to new things, technology, shiny things, *fun* stuff. My
+advice to you is not to hesitate: grab a Scheme or Haskell interpreter and
+teach your kid how to play with numbers, strings, diagrams, web pages, all the
+stuff that makes today's technology worthwhile. Let them go to an introductory
+course, but make sure that doesn't stifle their creativity. They are after all
+brilliant minds in the making. I'm not a psychologist, but I can suggest that
+you spare some time and study with them, and play with them, as any good parent
+should do.
+
+Or maybe you're not a parent. Maybe you wanted to learn more statistics in
+college but never got around to it. You keep hearing about big data, analytics
+and other buzzwords which gravitate around one thing and one thing only:
+mathematics. Or maybe you're an experienced programmer, or an actor. To be
+honest, I don't think it makes any difference: go and learn a "high-level"
+language, one that's more "formal", one that challenges your thinking. I'm not
+going to suggest you to learn APL[^2], but really, Scheme's a great language
+for messing around. Or maybe you're a Java programmer and you'd like to go try
+Scala or Clojure, or you're into .NET and F# might be closer to your mindset.
+Whatever, just find one or two or three languages and write something useful,
+like a program that does your bills or a porn crawler.
+
+Yes, I know, I'm biased, but I also happen to be right. It's not like I get any
+pleasure from it, but I'm hoping that fluttering it in front of everyone will
+make a difference.
+
+[^1]: The type system is thus a mechanism which has the primary function of
+verifying that pieces fit into place.
+
+[^2]: It's [A programming language][1]. A highly esoteric one, more so than
+Haskell.
+
+[1]: http://groups.engin.umd.umich.edu/CIS/course.des/cis400/apl/apl.html
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