Q 1 of 2: How stable is Haskell?
As compared against Python and Perl, how stable is Haskell? That is to say, between Python's 3 and 2 being so different, you pretty much need to know both. And with Perl 6 being "on the way" for so very long, and it too being a turnabout in many ways from Perl 5, it is discouraging to be keeping on with Perl 5 the way I've been doing. All that said, I know that they model the forthcoming Perl 6 in Haskell, which is how I heard of it. And ever since then, I've been thinking if I were to take up a new language, Haskell had maybe ought be the one.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 30/05/13 23:50, Gan Uesli Starling wrote:
As compared against Python and Perl, how stable is Haskell?
That is to say, between Python's 3 and 2 being so different, you pretty much need to know both. And with Perl 6 being "on the way" for so very long, and it too being a turnabout in many ways from Perl 5, it is discouraging to be keeping on with Perl 5 the way I've been doing.
All that said, I know that they model the forthcoming Perl 6 in Haskell, which is how I heard of it. And ever since then, I've been thinking if I were to take up a new language, Haskell had maybe ought be the one.
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I think you're actually asking ``how much does Haskell change between revisions'' and not how stable it is. If you're looking for a language where your program will work with a compiler that's 5 years old or 5 years from now, this probably isn't it. It's not like programs break daily because of the changes but I believe there is no hesitation to change stuff because some program from 5 years ago might no longer compile. - -- Mateusz K. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.19 (GNU/Linux) iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJRp99TAAoJEM1mucMq2pqXiksP/RAcI0HG/cI78reBd87xe3S5 wpbYV110KGZb0uBM0uJQbY8iAr2BU/TluOPQrkIcJpttwfM+RUZIn4tU0wlsSQOJ /kIYcXpjnj0X7h2PnZOaJnu7FkRMXsLYhn4UHcrR6K3Gp1gaFcgULYBiTO5Tc3Pr ouh5uz7DrHgXyBAHLyD4MLO07TlK0IcHYIocqaYHBCYn1nznDu89Avrz+PWRvw+S /hTpgPq3gb/sVNA/ZdRFmKmcgtp+mReETlhNMqP1vs2pqwkQoiB+K6bPNRhHuRrk EHYHcn5kM/7chU3Lr93KTB+TTw5MDH8W/qrEUibDL5pxZyvtO9ZKQXMwqbrGiHEi 9xyXfOQ38RvriDBWEXxTmkobAZQiWx5yKLzEzdtu3QGCPFxLduaVYzQf/4KG9jQR TegzFk06yGSL2b8dfH/vkN4L6vMx92lU9hVosWl4BTIj4ZjO8xH7kgwpRbebCcw9 FF86d2lQ9s3rqbpM+hSxF8DGk+YIKfc85gZZuFAsPqnXu5FSFfLnxsHUS6Cd0si9 wTTuPhzsfXKk3FQgnbfY/kUnv5fqJABY0Ab4rwq9pWLnrtueu7Fu42q3SwMBniHN cuSQWqne0+K3WHupkLfkWJKH8qv8ER9yVt8wZ2pH5DGOIOl4zY+N/BFLdpbFjOn1 j3STv2ZXecSom/d9dfKs =ZblG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
"Haskell" the language defined by the Haskell Report is very stable - with one revision in the last decade. "Glasgow Haskell" the dialect of Haskell provided by default by GHC is fast moving but changes to the Glasgow Haskell language are mostly "additions" of new features rather than "removals" or "mutations". GHC can always use standard Haskell when it is invoked with the appropriate flag. The standardized Haskell library i.e the Prelude, is very stable; though the Prelude is very small you will need more libraries to do any real work. The "standard" library of Glasgow Haskell i.e. GHC's base libraries is fairly stable. Though unlike Glasgow Haskell "the language", changes to the base libraries can as easily be removals and mutations and not just additions. Significant breaking changes tend to get parceled up as part of a major release of GHC, so the changes are well publicized. In "user land", commonly used libraries / frameworks can be highly dynamic with breaking changes happening frequently.
participants (3)
-
Gan Uesli Starling -
Mateusz Kowalczyk -
Stephen Tetley