I'm an experienced programmer, but just starting to learn Haskell and functional programming. Currently, I'm using GHC, GHCi, with gvim to edit programs.
I like using IDEs. For example, I do my Java programming in Eclipse. I do not like Emacs. I first tried it out in about 1984, and I try it again about once every 5 years, but somehow it just does not suit me.
Given that background, what IDE or IDEs should I consider?
Patricia Shanahan <p...@acm.org> writes: > I'm an experienced programmer, but just starting to learn Haskell and > functional programming. Currently, I'm using GHC, GHCi, with gvim to > edit programs.
Good luck! I found both functional programming, and then Haskell, separately to each be a sizable hump, though worth it in the end. Most of the important concepts are actually fairly simple individually, though, for me it was mostly just a case of seeing them, or seeing them explained, in the right way. (Or trying them out for myself.) In short: if a description of something seems confusing, you stand a good chance that somewhere else you can find a clearer explanation.
> I like using IDEs. For example, I do my Java programming in Eclipse. I > do not like Emacs. I first tried it out in about 1984, and I try it > again about once every 5 years, but somehow it just does not suit me.
> Given that background, what IDE or IDEs should I consider?
is probably worth a look if you've not already found it. I was vaguely aware of the Eclipse plugin, and the Visual Studio thing, but I am out of date and hadn't heard that anything had matured enough to be really worth using. I'd be most grateful if you could report back here if you do find some IDE that is now at the stage where it does add much value overall.
Many Haskell projects are packaged with the Cabal tool. I don't like it personally -- I think it tries to do too much all in one thing -- but I grudgingly mention that you should probably regard any Cabal support in an IDE as a plus.
>> I'm an experienced programmer, but just starting to learn Haskell and >> functional programming. Currently, I'm using GHC, GHCi, with gvim to >> edit programs.
> Good luck! I found both functional programming, and then Haskell, > separately to each be a sizable hump, though worth it in the end. Most > of the important concepts are actually fairly simple individually, > though, for me it was mostly just a case of seeing them, or seeing them > explained, in the right way. (Or trying them out for myself.) In short: > if a description of something seems confusing, you stand a good chance > that somewhere else you can find a clearer explanation.
The primary objective is to learn functional programming. I can't learn programming paradigms in pure theory - I need to write code to really get them. That tends to go better if I use a language in which the paradigm is the natural, ordinary way of doing things. I do have some background in the theory of pure functions and lambda calculus - my bachelor's degree was in mathematics. I've also learned enough programming languages to not be locked in to expectations from any one language family.
I agree with what you say about multiple descriptions. I'm reading "Real World Haskell", and have a copy of "Introduction to Functional Programming using Haskell" on order. As far as I can tell, they take very different approaches, one nuts and bolts and the other more theory orientated. That should give me a couple of views of each issue.
I'm hoping for a more personalized recommendation. For example, maybe someone who has used Eclipse for Java could tell me how well the plug-in works in practice.
Patricia Shanahan wrote: > I'm an experienced programmer, but just starting to learn Haskell and > functional programming. Currently, I'm using GHC, GHCi, with gvim to > edit programs.
> I like using IDEs. For example, I do my Java programming in Eclipse. I > do not like Emacs. I first tried it out in about 1984, and I try it > again about once every 5 years, but somehow it just does not suit me.
> Given that background, what IDE or IDEs should I consider?
> Thanks,
> Patricia
I've been playing with Leksah some on Ubuntu, and so far so good. It's early days for the IDE as I understand its history but I find it to be fairly tight. It's nicely tied into the build system and Cabal, and its intellisense is OK.
I'm not inclined to try it out on Windows or Mac OS X yet because this IDE is newer on those platforms. On those OS's I dispense with IDEs and do just fine with Notepad++ (which at least has syntax highlighting for Haskell) or TextWrangler. I might try EclipseFP on Mac OS X just for giggles, now that it's been mentioned.
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