Today I decided to mess around with Haskell. I’ve heard some things about it, like it’s a “functional programming language” and it’s got some “static typing” thing going on. So, I thought, why not give it a try?
First things first, I needed to set up the environment. I found this guide for beginners, and it talked about “cabal” and “stack.” Honestly, it sounded a bit complicated, but I chose “stack” because someone said it was easier. I followed the steps, installed a bunch of stuff, and hoped for the best.
Getting Started
After the installation, I opened up my editor. There’s this one called “VS Code” that I usually use, and apparently, it has some Haskell extension. I installed that too, and it felt like I was ready to go.
- Installed “stack”
- Set up VS Code with the Haskell extension
Writing Some Code
Now, I needed to actually write some code. I found this tutorial called “Learning Haskell” that had both text and videos. I figured videos would be easier to follow. I watched a few, and it showed how to write basic stuff, like defining functions and doing some simple math. It wasn’t too bad, actually.
I tried to follow along with the examples, typing out the code and running it. There were some errors at first, mostly because I missed some syntax or got the indentation wrong. But after a few tries, I managed to get some simple programs working.
Feeling Accomplished
I even tried a small project from another guide. It was about aligning some text, making all the equal signs line up nicely. It involved things like splitting strings, padding with spaces, and joining them back together. It took a while, but I eventually got it working! It felt pretty good to see my code actually doing something useful.
My Thoughts
Honestly, Haskell feels a bit weird at first. It’s different from what I’m used to. But it’s also kind of cool. It makes you think about programming in a different way. I’m not sure if I’ll become a Haskell expert, but it was definitely an interesting experience. I might even try to learn more about it in the future, but for now, I feel good for having actually making some progress in my first day!
I feel like I actually learned something new about coding. It’s not just about learning a new syntax, but a whole new way of thinking about problems.
