On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 5:04 AM, Jerzy Karczmarczuk <jerzy.karczmarc...@unicaen.fr> wrote: > David Fox reacts to my criticism of his attitude towards "the meaning of > folds": >> >> I'm not trying to avoid learning the differences between the different >> folds, but I am looking for a mnemonic device that will allow me to >> proceed more quickly towards my goal. My ultimate goal is to write >> software, not to understand folds. Just as it is inappropriate for a >> young officer to even contemplate an overall strategy for winning the >> war, it would be inappropriate for a general to spend more time than >> necessary on the minute details of military tactics, as vital as they >> are. > > David, cynism or not, you might have found in my post some concrete remarks, > about incrementality, about tail-recursion... Not a single comment of your > part. No comment addressed to other people who tried also to help you > (whether we really help you in such a way is subject to discussion...) > > I am sorry, but saying that your goal is to write software is not even > funny. The relatively modern science of programming evolves for the last 60 > years, and the progress in writing software NEVER came out of kitchen > recipes, on the contrary ! The laziness is not a "trick to avoid > computation", but a methodology of ordering the operations, and if you are > unable to order them in your head, you won't be able to exploit this or that > "design pattern". > OK, you gather some patterns, and you apply them. Once. And then, you will > be helpless, when the need for refactoring arrives. You will never be able > to teach those patterns to your younger colleagues. And finally, your last > remarks might be less relevant than you wish. A general gets his stars > usually after several years of demonstrating that he UNDERSTANDS the minute > details of military tactics, so he can consciously choose those who will > implement them.
I think the other replies in this thread speak for themselves - i found them very helpful. _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe