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Comment by michael_dorfman | Hacker News Reader

I'd suggest Scheme, just because the SICP videos make learning it easy and fun (http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...). And, once you get the functional concepts, Haskell and/or Erlang should be relatively easy.

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I think this is a good idea to first learn the basic functional concepts using Scheme and the SICP videos (heard a lot of good things about the videos and the book). I'm learning Haskell (I'm a C# guy) and some things are a bit difficult to understand if you have an object oriented background. I think I'll have a look at the SICP videos, too

Did you learn Scheme and then moved to Haskell, or directly started with Haskell?

I directly started with Haskell, but had some difficulties with the functional concepts! this is why I second the idea of michael_dorfman. I think it will help you a lot to understand everything better. and I personally like video lectures a lot. not that I'm lazy and don't want to read, but sometimes, when something is explained visually or by a specialist in the specific field, you just get it better in your head :)

I'd definitely second SICP if you've never done functional before. It teaches you functional concepts almost without you even realizing it.

OTOH, if you are really interested in being truly pure, it's hard to beat Haskell. Real World Haskell is a great intro for that language, and it's free online.

I did find lot of books/resources for Haskell and Erlang too.

If it were the usual programming languages (PHP, Ruby, Python etc), making a choice is relatively easy. For functional languages, I'm not sure where to even begin.

> If it were the usual programming languages (PHP, Ruby, Python etc), making a choice is relatively easy.

What do you mean by that? Is it just that you know this field better and thus feel better informed, or are you hinting at something else, that I didn't get?

I mean this: I know (to some extent atleast) what to expect from languages like Python etc. So if I am trying to choose between say, Ruby and Python, I can use them both for a couple of weeks, and decide which to go with, depending on which I like and am more comfortable with. I also know where these languages are mostly used, job prospects of them etc.

Whereas with functional programming, I am totally new and lost, no clue where to even begin.

No, I didn't hint anything else.

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