Re: [Haskell-cafe] Which advanced Haskell topics interest you

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Stephen Tetley wrote:

On 4 October 2012 18:04, Kim-Ee Yeoh 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