Re: [Haskell-beginners] A first try

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 11:10 AM, Manfred Lotz wrote:

Hi David,

On Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:43:59 -0400 David Place wrote:

...

Hi, Panagiotis.

The wc program is a good choice for a learning program, but it reveals a long-standing weakness in Haskell: Lazy-IO.

Is it really a weakness of Haskell or just something one has to get used to it? That is a question I would like to get opinions from the experts!

No, the only weakness (imo) with lazy io is a beginners understanding of its implications. There are options, most notably iteratees. Lazy IO, much like lazy evaluation, are definitely different than what you might expect from other languages, but I think it's a huge mistake, especially when you are just starting out, to categorize them as weaknesses.