> To me, it’s a bit like saying that if you already know English, then learning a second language will be more difficult for you than if you didn’t know any language.
To master a first native language takes at least about 16 years for most people ... I think you can reasonably master a second language way faster by leveraging language analogies. I also have a very hard time believing that learning Haskell is easier if you lack programming experience in imperative languages.
> along with learning Emacs, but they are mere constituents in a continually growing pile of stuff I still need to learn.
At no point she gives a reason for why to learn Haskell in the first place. I mean you only have so much time - why spend time learning Emacs just out of nowhere?
> True Confession: I didn’t know Github existed until I started learning Haskell; I didn’t even know what version control was. So, as I was starting with Haskell, I had Linux, Git, an invitation to join an IRC channel (a wut?)
So where is her GitHub repo? Can't find the link. There is probably a lot of very smart Haskell code to be found, I guess.
> Honestly, I still don’t really understand why people like imperative and OO languages.
She writes that she has no experience in other language paradims but she does know why it's worse than functional approach? Sure ...
The only thing missing in this post is a humblebrag comment about how she just got a dev position at Google ...
She has a friend who likes Haskell and taught her. The things he taught make sense to her. Perhaps she doesn't have the experience to make a fuller judgement, but that doesn't stop her from talking about what she's personally discovered.
The amount of derision you've managed to read into that is remarkable.
I think you are right - my comment is definitely a bit harsh. Certainly I don't hold a grudge against her b/c of this. But this type of over-hyped blog post fits into a weird and annoying pattern on HN as I see it. At the moment I cannot say specifically why I do react so allergic to it.
Okay, I'm sorry! Didn't want to make her feel bad! :)
Then again - she's already making bold statements about correct software development paradims ... I guess, some healthy humbleness may be useful if you don't want to be judged yourself.
Sure she can. But at least one of plongeur's criticisms was completely valid, even if stated a bit harshly. She does in fact write that she has no experience in other language paradigms, but then exactly says "Honestly, I still don’t really understand why people like imperative and OO languages." That is, she criticized people for choosing other paradigms that she admittedly doesn't have the experience to criticize.
Then she doubles down on defending that part against criticism, while complaining that that seems to be the part that HN is attacking. Um, maybe because that part is weak?
Look, the point isn't to tear her apart. The point is that it's valid to criticize that part of what she said, without it becoming a personal attack.
As for the rest of what she said, that she mentions that we're not criticizing: That's because (other than the "learning a first language is easiest" part), there's not much more to criticize. She wants to learn Haskell? Great. Go for it. She wants to teach it to others who don't know any programming language? Great. Go for it. She wants to document her trail to make it easier for others? Wonderful! There's nothing whatsoever to criticize with any of that.
And as for why it's getting criticized here on HN when she didn't post it here: Somebody did, and we're commenting on it. That's kind of how the comments section of HN works. The only way it could be different is if it wasn't posted here (so nobody read it here; probably not a net win for anybody), or if HN had a way to post something where no commenting was allowed.
> To master a first native language takes at least about 16 years for most people
What's your definition of master? That doesn't sound like the kids I'm thinking of when I think 'learnt English' and mastering a second language to the same level of mastery as the first I am unsure can be done in a shorter timespan (though conversational fluency to the point where one can understand and be understood is on a significantly shorter time-scale.)
To master a first native language takes at least about 16 years for most people ... I think you can reasonably master a second language way faster by leveraging language analogies. I also have a very hard time believing that learning Haskell is easier if you lack programming experience in imperative languages.
> along with learning Emacs, but they are mere constituents in a continually growing pile of stuff I still need to learn.
At no point she gives a reason for why to learn Haskell in the first place. I mean you only have so much time - why spend time learning Emacs just out of nowhere?
> True Confession: I didn’t know Github existed until I started learning Haskell; I didn’t even know what version control was. So, as I was starting with Haskell, I had Linux, Git, an invitation to join an IRC channel (a wut?)
So where is her GitHub repo? Can't find the link. There is probably a lot of very smart Haskell code to be found, I guess.
> Honestly, I still don’t really understand why people like imperative and OO languages.
She writes that she has no experience in other language paradims but she does know why it's worse than functional approach? Sure ...
The only thing missing in this post is a humblebrag comment about how she just got a dev position at Google ...