Functional programming is a style of programming that emphasizes the use of functions (in contrast to object-oriented programming, which emphasizes the use of objects). It has become popular in recent years because of its simplicity, conciseness, and clarity. This book teaches functional programming as a way of thinking and problem solving, using Haskell, the most popular purely functional language. Rather than using the conventional (boring) mathematical examples commonly found in other programming language textbooks, the author uses examples drawn from multimedia applications, including graphics, animation, and computer music, thus rewarding the reader with working programs for inherently more interesting applications. Aimed at both beginning and advanced programmers, this tutorial begins with a gentle introduction to functional programming and moves rapidly on to more advanced topics. Details about progamming in Haskell are presented in boxes throughout the text so they can be easily found and referred to.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Odd:
I admit, I did not read the book very much. I looked through it and the format of everything was really weird. The code snippets used characters one cannot type in what seemed to me to be a variable width font. It bothered me for some reason.
Great idea, execution could use help:
Granted I am new to Haskell and to some degree functional programming. I thought this book would be really cool, pretty much an ideal book on a subject matter that I am very interested in. The text is definitely easy to follow for the most part, but WHY, WHY use a 'Times new roman' type font for the code samples? The code samples are basically in the same font as the text only in italics, making it hard to figure out what is supposed to be whitespace, which I find a pretty strange decision for a textbook on... more info
Good book.:
This is a good book... However, I wish I hadn't bought it. It seems to focus too much on geometry and multimedia, which is not that interesting to me. (Yes, I knew that when I bought the book). Anyway, my problem with it is that it seems more suited to someone who'll learn in a "linear" way, going through all chapters (maybe because functions defined in previous chapters are used in the others). I'd rather get a book with self-contained chapters (for example, I've learned Lisp with Peter Seibel's... more info
If you like programming ...:
in general, and if you don't know Haskell, OCaML, ML, or F#, then you really should buy this book and work through it. A generation ago, Abelson and Sussman wrote "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," which brought world-shaping clarity to programming in the form of a generic, functional approach. In the time since then, "types" and "lazy evaluation" have fundamentally improved that overall approach, and Haskell is the rightful successor to Scheme as the best-of-breed of functional... more info
