Death to Type Classes

(jappie.me)

24 points | by zeepthee 3 days ago ago

8 comments

  • SkiFire13 2 hours ago

    I feel like this article would be much more approachable if it didn't assume readers already know Ocaml and Haskell and their module system

    • fweimer an hour ago

      Haskell knowledge doesn't actually help because this isn't using the (very barebones) Haskell module system, but the Backpack extension: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...

    • nine_k an hour ago

      Indeed so, but that would require a few months worth of work from the reader, unfortunately.

      (I have a t-shirt with a lambda in a circle, reminiscent of the anarchist emblem, and words "no class, no state". It's definitely possible to explain to a passer-by who never studied FP what it refers to, but not in such a way that the joke remained funny. Possibly the same deal is with the bumper sticker saying "my other car is cdr".)

      • codebje an hour ago

        "Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind." - E. B. White.

    • 4ad 40 minutes ago

      It would also be a useless article. It's fine to write for an audience, if you're not in the target audience, move on.

    • actionfromafar an hour ago

      Yeah... meanwhile, in lesser languages, type classes is all we have.

  • 12_throw_away 11 minutes ago

    "Functors" "Monads" "Typeclasses" <- concepts dreamed up by the utterly deranged

  • test6554 2 hours ago

    I just picture Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” connecting the dots.