The Haskell road to logic review(arxiv.org)
arxiv.org
The Haskell road to logic review
http://arxiv.org/pdf/cs/0512096v2.pdf
11 comments
I really like this book. I haven't finished it but I did kickstart a friend on Haskell by getting him a copy as well.
It is worth noting that the book uses HUGS examples instead of GHCI so there are some (mostly minor) differences between the example interactive code and the results in ghci. I don't remember off hand but I started the book thinking I'd just use ghci and that it would be the same as hugs, but there are a couple important differences between hugs and ghci that impacted some of the examples in the book. I stuck with ghci but to someone completely new to haskell it might be a confusing point.
It is worth noting that the book uses HUGS examples instead of GHCI so there are some (mostly minor) differences between the example interactive code and the results in ghci. I don't remember off hand but I started the book thinking I'd just use ghci and that it would be the same as hugs, but there are a couple important differences between hugs and ghci that impacted some of the examples in the book. I stuck with ghci but to someone completely new to haskell it might be a confusing point.
I suspect this means it used top-level declarations in the REPL. Happily, with GHC 7.4[1] (released just now), GHCi accepts any sort of declaration, so it should be much less confusing.
[1]: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/7.4.1/html/users_guide/relea...
[1]: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/7.4.1/html/users_guide/relea...
Hallelujah! I do not understand why that feature was deprioritized for a decade, making ghci useless for quickly trying out sample code or quick ideas involving types.
+1 on this. It's a great book (not finished yet). What I like is that it's like a review (even rediscovery) of mathematical basics and how powerful they are, coupled with the beauty of Haskell. I know it sounds cheesy but _that_ is like, well, a religious feeling. Similar to what I felt when I discovered metamath.org (so wonderful).
I got a copy because of the reviews, but found the prose style pretty painful, and at least the early material to be basic, so I never got far into it. If you open e.g. AIMA to a random passage, you'll find it's just got more vigor than this book, without losing its textbookiness.
I'd like to see more books like this that use programming in teaching another subject, like Sussman and Wisdom's SICM.
I'd like to see more books like this that use programming in teaching another subject, like Sussman and Wisdom's SICM.
I'm happy to see this here and that the HRtL is even getting reviews. I tried to pick it up a few times when I was starting to cut my teeth, and although both the maths and the programming was a tad too out of my reach at the time (so I had to abandon the text), I could tell it was something of quality and it wasn't getting the fanfare it deserved. Granted, its aim is niche (and Haskell is already niche!) but good text and writing and style make all the difference, often deriving the very general from the very specific (see SICP, for instance).
I cannot gauge just how good HRtL is, but from my limited purview, it gave me the impression that is was worth its salt, and this posted review seems to indicate the same.
I'd love to hear from anyone who's had a more thorough impression than me, either good or bad -- I always thought it was an intriguing book.
I cannot gauge just how good HRtL is, but from my limited purview, it gave me the impression that is was worth its salt, and this posted review seems to indicate the same.
I'd love to hear from anyone who's had a more thorough impression than me, either good or bad -- I always thought it was an intriguing book.
There is also Discrete Mathematics using a computer, which I assume from the .edu pdf is legitimately free.
http://www.x.edu.uy/inet/Springer.pdf
http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0512096 << abstract
The Art of Prolog - by Sterling and Shapiro.
I accidentally found this gem and, so far, enjoying every page of it.
I accidentally found this gem and, so far, enjoying every page of it.
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As is stated in the arxiv review, its not meant to be a self contained intro to Haskell. I used 'learn you a haskell for great good', as a language tutorial, and did the exercises from 'Haskell Road' for practice, which worked well.
'Haskell Road' is a really nice book, with a very ambitious goal - provide an introduction to many fundamental mathematical/logical concepts through Haskell.
After a great first 3 chapters, though, I was a little disappointed, by chapter 4, which is 'Sets, Types and Lists', and for the next couple of chapters. I felt the proportion of assignments that were in Haskell decreased substantially, and it became more like a normal Math text.
Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that; and there were still many Haskell exercises in each chapter; but up to Chapter 4, I thought it had succeeded in teaching the Math/Logic mostly through Haskell; I felt it then became more like a traditional text.
I understand that many mathematical concepts, that have to be dealt with in a general sense (important general proofs etc) are best dealt with in the abstract, and not in Haskell. But I really like programming, and I found that coding my way through the earlier material was a very enjoyable way to cover the ground.
I'd love if there was a future edition, or another book, that brought us much further, with the same code-centric learning approach.