Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!: A Beginner's Guide

This book really blew my mind! It is superbly done.What I especially like about it is the way it hints at the underpinnings of Haskell (and functional programming) in category theory (and other formal systems); thus making them much more accessible and comprehensible.The discussions about monads are fantastic!The examples are first rate: it's well worth going through each and every one of them (slowly and carefully) to fully absorb the gold mine of insights each one can impart. (Even if you think you already understand the concepts: you might just find yourself seeing things in a novel and unexpected way! ;-)I truly hope the author will write another book. He has a real gift and talent; not only in explaining, but also in making things interesting. I actually found this book hard to put down. It really drew me in. (Not just any technical book can cast such a spell!)This book should be of great interest to F# programmers. F# materials alone will not give a reader enough insight into the milieu of functional programming to really appreciate monads (for instance). In fact, I say: to really learn C# you need to learn F#, and to really learn F# you need to learn Haskell.I also hope one day we'll have H# available as a fully integrated citizen of .Net (following in F#'s footsteps).Haskell to me is well worth learning because it is so pure. The lessons learned can then be mapped back to many existing technologies that one must work with. (Legacy technologies aren't going away anytime soon; but the good news is that the Haskell way of thinking can still be leveraged to great good in many venues.)The hand drawn artwork (done by the author himself!) added a lot to the tapestry and enchanting magic of this well crafted book.In conclusion: my greatest praise for this book is the way it took such a lofty and important topic and made it so amazingly accessible, fun, and fascinating.Kudos for a job well done!!!

One of the best books I've read, period.I just finished this book recently, however I've had prior exposure to the language (although never programming formally in it): typeclassopedia, Programming in Haskell, Erik Meijer's on-line lectures, etc. (the usual resources) as well as all 1200 pages from Chris Allen,and Julie Moronuki's "Haskell Programming from First Principles" book. While this book doesn't have exercises, I think it has the others beat in one category: simplicity. I'm also of the school where I think it's effective to show someone a concept(s) then let them go out to apply it to their own projects rather than giving them an assortment of examples/exercises to do.Also, although some of the other references/books assume the reader as a pure beginner, this is the only book that sincerely holds true to their word and treats them as a beginner from it's first to last pages. The others I noticed tend to assume the reader has more experience as a programmer and even with the language as well as functional programming itself (I could understand why in typeclassopedia's case). This book is very well written compared to the others as well. The explanations of the concepts are very clear and straight to the point, with nice analogies and examples. Although in the printed edition there are some typos, the free version (available online) has the corrections- all you have to do is visit the section you're reading. But what's great about that is, because their explanation is clear, you'll have the knowledge to catch it, run a double check on their website and be on your way.As mentioned, it's about simplicity. One thing I really appreciate about this book, is it makes everything about the language first. It may not cover the more technical things like testing, stack, cabal, etc. But if you just want to learn about Haskell syntax and it's concepts (from currying to monads), this is the book for it.

I downloaded this book as a free pdf from the book's website initially. After reading through a significant portion of the pdf, I decided to purchase the print version in order to have a handy chunk of dead tree to use (I prefer dead tree versions of books, generally speaking) and to support the author, because I thought the cook was simply fabulous.I must admit, first, that I had previous exposure to functional programming (in the context of scheme), so my review may be a bit biased. That being said, I felt that this book did an amazing job at providing a very informal, well paced introduction to both the Haskell language and functional programming in general. Unlike most of your "for dummies" books (as well as all of the similar variations of that general genre), however, you won't be insulted by ridiculously dumbed-down explanations or suffer from way too many forced puns, jokes, etc. The author does take a very lighthearted approach, employ humor, etc., but it seems much more natural and is much less obnoxious than most books which attempt to take such a route.

Tive contato com o livro online por conta de uma matéria da faculdade que estou fazendo,e adorei a didática com que ele apresenta e exemplifica Haskell e suas particularidades.Resolvi adquirir o livro para ajudar o autor e para continuar aprendendo a linguagem no futuro.Recomendo muito esse livro para quem quiser aprender Haskell,ele é engraçado e fenomenal.

Este libro es una verdadera joya para aquellos interesados en aprender sobre programación funcional. Está escrito de manera clara y accesible, con explicaciones detalladas y ejemplos prácticos que hacen que el aprendizaje sea muy fácil y ameno.Lo que más me gustó de este libro es que no solo te enseña los conceptos básicos de la programación funcional, sino que también te guía a través de la implementación práctica de algoritmos y estructuras de datos en Haskell. Es un enfoque muy completo que te permite no solo entender la teoría, sino también aplicarla en situaciones reales.El autor tiene un estilo de escritura muy ameno y humorístico que hace que la lectura sea muy agradable. Además, el libro está estructurado de manera lógica y bien organizada, lo que facilita el seguimiento del contenido.En resumen, si estás interesado en aprender programación funcional y buscas un libro que te guíe de manera clara y accesible, este libro es una excelente opción. Con su estilo ameno, explicaciones detalladas y enfoque práctico, estoy seguro de que aprenderás mucho y disfrutarás del proceso.

One of the top 10 programming book. Allows you to get slowly into functional programming. Once you're done with this one, I suggest you look at Haskell from the first principles (the purple book).

Este libro está gratuito en internet pero vale la pena comprarlo para añadirlo a tu bliblioteca. Excelente de programación funcional y haskell.

The 'Learn You a Haskell' book is an excellent introduction to Haskell. Having studied under one of the main contributors to the language, I had to learn much of the language in a very short space of time. Having read other Haskell textbooks this one is definitely the one to go with!The book itself is very nice quality. The wording is very clear and casual which is a very rare find in programming literature. You won't get stuck wondering what words mean but at the same time it offers a very solid grounding (and even some more complex concepts!) for the Haskell language.Note that the book is essentially available in the form of the "Learn You A Haskell" website but it's always beneficial to have a physical copy.I would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to study a functional language.