A monoid is a category, a category is a monad, a monad is a monoid

Re:A monoid is a category, a category is a monad, a monad is... by the_af on Sunday April 16, 2017 @05:21PM (#14127585)

I know the current consensus seems to have moved away from this recommendation [1], but have you tried reading the (free online!) book "Learn You a Haskell for Great Good" (http://learnyouahaskell.com/)? It provides an easy to understand and uncomplicated introduction to monads, monoids, functors, and everything you find scary about Haskell. You won't be able to write full-fledged programs with it, but you won't be scared of these concepts anymore.

[1] The problem with "easy to understand" is that it sometimes leads to oversimplified or wrong intuitions, but to be honest I found the book a nice -- if not immediately useful -- introduction to Haskell.

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Re:A monoid is a category, a category is a monad, a monad is... by crucialfelix on Sunday April 16, 2017 @05:46PM (#14127714)

I've found Professor Frisby's Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Programming to be the best on ramp. He builds up the concepts carefully till you are using applicative functors and it's always very practical and applied.

I will probably now re-read Learn You a Haskell and actually write some Haskell.

[1] https://drboolean.gitbooks.io/mostly-adequate-guide/content/

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Re:A monoid is a category, a category is a monad, a monad is... by lolive on Monday April 17, 2017 @07:42PM (#14135411)

I cannot agree more. This book is awesome!

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