diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'haskell.html.markdown')
| -rw-r--r-- | haskell.html.markdown | 116 |
1 files changed, 86 insertions, 30 deletions
diff --git a/haskell.html.markdown b/haskell.html.markdown index 840569fb..9847ef2a 100644 --- a/haskell.html.markdown +++ b/haskell.html.markdown @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- language: haskell -author: Adit Bhargava -author_url: http://adit.io +contributors: + - ["Adit Bhargava", "http://adit.io"] --- Haskell was designed as a practical, purely functional programming language. It's famous for @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ makes coding a real joy for me. ```haskell -- Single line comments start with two dashes. {- Multiline comments can be enclosed -in a block like this. +en a block like this. -} ---------------------------------------------------- @@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ add 1 2 -- 3 -- with backticks: 1 `add` 2 -- 3 --- You can also define functions that have no characters! This lets +-- You can also define functions that have no letters! This lets -- you define your own operators! Here's an operator that does -- integer division (//) a b = a `div` b @@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ foldl (\x y -> 2*x + y) 4 [1,2,3] -- 43 foldr (\x y -> 2*x + y) 4 [1,2,3] -- 16 -- This is now the same as -(2 * 3 + (2 * 2 + (2 * 1 + 4) +(2 * 3 + (2 * 2 + (2 * 1 + 4))) ---------------------------------------------------- -- 7. Data Types @@ -281,19 +281,20 @@ data Color = Red | Blue | Green -- Now you can use it in a function: -say :: Color -> IO String -say Red = putStrLn "You are Red!" -say Blue = putStrLn "You are Blue!" -say Green = putStrLn "You are Green!" + +say :: Color -> String +say Red = "You are Red!" +say Blue = "You are Blue!" +say Green = "You are Green!" -- Your data types can have parameters too: data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a -- These are all of type Maybe -Nothing -Just "hello" -Just 1 +Just "hello" -- of type `Maybe String` +Just 1 -- of type `Maybe Int` +Nothing -- of type `Maybe a` for any `a` ---------------------------------------------------- -- 8. Haskell IO @@ -302,32 +303,78 @@ Just 1 -- While IO can't be explained fully without explaining monads, -- it is not hard to explain enough to get going. --- An `IO a` value is an IO action: you can chain them with do blocks +-- When a Haskell program is executed, the function `main` is +-- called. It must return a value of type `IO ()`. For example: + +main :: IO () +main = putStrLn $ "Hello, sky! " ++ (say Blue) +-- putStrLn has type String -> IO () + +-- It is easiest to do IO if you can implement your program as +-- a function from String to String. The function +-- interact :: (String -> String) -> IO () +-- inputs some text, runs a function on it, and prints out the +-- output. + +countLines :: String -> String +countLines = show . length . lines + +main' = interact countLines + +-- You can think of a value of type `IO ()` as representing a +-- sequence of actions for the computer to do, much like a +-- computer program written in an imperative language. We can use +-- the `do` notation to chain actions together. For example: + +sayHello :: IO () +sayHello = do + putStrLn "What is your name?" + name <- getLine -- this gets a line and gives it the name "input" + putStrLn $ "Hello, " ++ name + +-- Exercise: write your own version of `interact` that only reads +-- one line of input. + +-- The code in `sayHello` will never be executed, however. The only +-- action that ever gets executed is the value of `main`. +-- To run `sayHello` comment out the above definition of `main` +-- and replace it with: +-- main = sayHello + +-- Let's understand better how the function `getLine` we just +-- used works. Its type is: +-- getLine :: IO String +-- You can think of a value of type `IO a` as representing a +-- computer program that will generate a value of type `a` +-- when executed (in addition to anything else it does). We can +-- store and reuse this value using `<-`. We can also +-- make our own action of type `IO String`: + action :: IO String action = do putStrLn "This is a line. Duh" - input <- getLine -- this gets a line and gives it the name "input" + input1 <- getLine input2 <- getLine - return (input1 ++ "\n" ++ input2) -- This is the result of the whole action + -- The type of the `do` statement is that of its last line. + -- `return` is not a keyword, but merely a function + return (input1 ++ "\n" ++ input2) -- return :: String -> IO String --- This didn't actually do anything. When a haskell program is executed --- an IO action called "main" is read and interpreted. +-- We can use this just like we used `getLine`: -main = do - putStrLn "Our first program. How exciting!" - result <- action -- our defined action is just like the default ones +main'' = do + putStrLn "I will echo two lines!" + result <- action putStrLn result putStrLn "This was all, folks!" --- Haskell does IO through a monad because this allows it to be a purely --- functional language. Our `action` function had a type signature of `IO String`. --- In general any function that interacts with the outside world (i.e. does IO) --- gets marked as `IO` in its type signature. This lets us reason about what --- functions are "pure" (don't interact with the outside world or modify state) --- and what functions aren't. +-- The type `IO` is an example of a "monad". The way Haskell uses a monad to +-- do IO allows it to be a purely functional language. Any function that +-- interacts with the outside world (i.e. does IO) gets marked as `IO` in its +-- type signature. This lets us reason about what functions are "pure" (don't +-- interact with the outside world or modify state) and what functions aren't. --- This is a powerful feature, because it's easy to run pure functions concurrently --- so concurrency in Haskell is very easy. +-- This is a powerful feature, because it's easy to run pure functions +-- concurrently; so, concurrency in Haskell is very easy. ---------------------------------------------------- @@ -344,6 +391,14 @@ let foo = 5 >:t foo foo :: Integer + +-- You can also run any action of type `IO ()` + +> sayHello +What is your name? +Friend! +Hello, Friend! + ``` There's a lot more to Haskell, including typeclasses and monads. These are the big ideas that make Haskell such fun to code in. I'll leave you with one final Haskell example: an implementation of quicksort in Haskell: @@ -357,5 +412,6 @@ qsort (p:xs) = qsort lesser ++ [p] ++ qsort greater Haskell is easy to install. Get it [here](http://www.haskell.org/platform/). -You can find a much gentler introduction from the excellent [Learn you a Haskell](http://learnyouahaskell.com/) - +You can find a much gentler introduction from the excellent +[Learn you a Haskell](http://learnyouahaskell.com/) or +[Real World Haskell](http://book.realworldhaskell.org/). |