To counter one of the other reviews, Haskell is not pointless! Quirky, maybe, significantly different to imperative programming, certainly, but it gives you another way of looking at things. Can you write a one-line sorting algorithm in C?

Functional Programming is all about paradigm shift - just as there was from, say, Assembler to Fortran. Being able to specify programs more elegantly, as you can in Functional languages, makes for more readable, manageable code ~ cheaper to maintain.

Try it, you might like it!

(Also, I am a student at the department where Bird teaches, I can say that this book is essential for getting through problem sheets!)


Excellent book for intermediate-level functional programming   April 22, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I have just finished reading the entire book, and am very happy with it. I was familiar with Haskell before reading it and think this is not a good introduction to the language.
This book teaches you medium/advanced haskell (and functional programming in general). Do not buy it if you want to learn the language or f.p. from scrach. You must absolutely buy it if you've learnt the basics and which to move forward.


What a pointless language!!   October 25, 2002
 2 out of 15 found this review helpful

Although i think the language is dead and i would never chosse to learn it, this book did me a big favour when it came to passing my degree and i take my hat of to Mr. Bird. Its simple and informative, starts from the bottom and works up slowly, with loads of examples and explainations about how it all work. If you've gotta learn Haskall then this is the book


The only way to acquaint yourself with haskell   February 20, 2001
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

Bird gives a clear and insightful introduction into the ideas and theory behind funtional programming using Haskell. For anyone interested in the future of higher level computer programming, this book is a must-buy.