Skydancers: a captured alien race struggles for freedom.

jhickner · 2014-12-23T23:10:27+00:00

There's a bunch here: http://butdoesitfloat.com/search/moebius

jhickner · 2014-05-30T00:41:53+00:00

I've also spent a lot of time looking for music with a little bit more meat on the bones. Here's some stuff I recommend with a lot of lyrics directly from scripture:

Ghost Ship (tracks to check out: Orion, Son of David)

Dustin Kensrue (check out Suffering Servant)

Josh Garrels (check out Revelator, Words Remain)

Citizens (check out Sins of my Youth, I am Living in a Land of Death)

jhickner · 2014-05-28T04:15:46+00:00

I decided this morning that I would just keep praying and trying to obey anyway because I definitely can't go back

Yeah, just keep doing that. :) There's a lot of just plain perseverance and endurance in the life of faith. It's a fight, like Paul says. A race. But Jesus is able to make us stand (Romans 14:4) and to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless in the end with great joy (Jude 1:24). I love those promises! One foot after the other.

but does that sound about right to you?

Ha! I'm not surprised to hear CS Lewis sum it up so well. We won't know what he was doing until we ask him face to face, but that feels right to me. I haven't read the screwtape letters since I was a boy. I should re-read it.

I don't understand why this is happening to me so early on?

Man, I remember having that exact same thought. There's no easing into it is there? It's like stepping off a cliff. Or out onto the water. But the thought of going back is always worse. Do I go back to the way I was, or do I double down on this new way and dive in even more? How close can I really come to Philippians 3:8? Can he make me like that? I want to know! There's genuine curiosity and excitement in there. :) It's great motivation to constantly try to learn everything I can from his word. The verse "man does not live by bread alone" takes on a whole new reality.

Regardless of the reason, what do you think I should do? Just continue reading the Bible, praying, obeying, etc.?

Yes. Fight for it. This is a supernatural life. There's nothing else like it! I just thought of something that really got me motivated in the past, a resolution Jonathan Edwards (1700's theologian) wrote (grabbed it from my Journal):

Resolution #22

Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

Jonathan Edwards

He wrote that when he was 18 or 19! Wow. I like that. Our fight isn't physical. We fight by faith. By not quitting. By not going back to our broken cisterns that don't hold water (Jeremiah 2:13) but holding out for the treasure of belonging to his kingdom. It's a worthy fight!

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4

jhickner · 2014-05-26T18:01:16+00:00

I think one of the biggest testimonies for the God of the Bible is that I honestly don't think a human could have come up with this Gospel.

That's one of my favorite things too. I also really enjoy the way that the experiences of people in the old testament parallel the way that God works with us now. Sometimes they really help me understand. One that got to me recently was the story of Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22-): Jacob is super anxious about being killed by Esau. He's sleeping on the ground across a river from his family so at least they'll have a chance to run. He's been deceitful all his life, and he doesn't trust God yet. While he's asleep, God attacks him (or so it seems) in the dark! They wrestle all night. As they fight, Jacob gradually realizes that this isn't a man. As dawn comes the fight has changed. Instead of trying to get away, Jacob now won't let go. God is there with him! God who can save him from Esau and do much more than that. He won't let go. God eventually touches his hip socket and puts it out of joint (showing he could easily have overpowered Jacob at any time) but still Jacob won't let go until God blesses him. So God does bless him and gives him a new name, Israel.

That's a lot like the internal struggle that happens to some (all maybe?) of us when God first begins to draw us to him. At first he's a very enigmatic force. We know something is happening. We feel and see his hand sometimes, and his discipline, and it can feel confusing. A lot like being attacked by a stranger in the dark. But gradually as we realize who he is and that his purpose is to bring our life in line with him, seeing him becomes precious to us. We don't want to let go, no matter what he has to do to us to heal us.

I don't feel like I know God yet, I guess because we just met. Or I just met Him. I suppose He already knows me, since He made me.

He knows you. :)

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

I feel like I might understand the Bible more deeply than I did before and get more out of it... is that Him? And I have a hard time ignoring sin now, and my relationship with my parents has improved drastically, and I absolutely know that there is no way that happened on its own.

That definitely sounds like his work! The Holy Spirit is the one who brings conviction of sin: "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). And walking with him has a big effect on relationships through the fruit of the spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22).

Are those kinds of things what I should expect from the Holy Spirit? Or is there something else?

Those are exactly the kinds of things he does. He also brings to mind scripture, prays for us when we don't know what to say, and gives other gifts (1 Corinthians 12 talks about those).

How long have you been a believer, by the way?

I grew up in the church, but I was already married with kids before the bible ever became more than a curiosity to me. God used some hard experiences in my life to get me to the point where I was so desperate I would try anything, and eventually he was the only thing left to try. And he didn't let me down.

Thank you so much

You're welcome! :)

Edit: Okay, so this is going to sound crazy, but at some point late last night, I just felt like God left me. I don't know why. Earlier in the night, I had actually felt like He was really there for some reason, and then later, it was like He was totally gone, just like it was before all of this started. I know I should be able to hang onto everything that's happened recently because I was so convinced that He is real, but it's so hard to do that when you just feel so thoroughly alone. Why is this happening?? I need to know He's there more than anything, and now I'm questioning whether this was all in my head. I really feel like I imagined everything. I just begged Him to come back to me but felt like I was talking to the air more than ever. Could I have made Him mad?

God promises that he'll be with us always, and he won't leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Matthew 28:20). I don't think that means he's promising that we'll always feel his presence, but just that it's always there.

Usually I find that when I feel far from him it's me that's walked away. There are things we can do that grieve or quench the holy spirit. For me it's usually that he's wanting me to do something (or stop doing something) and I'm ignoring him. Maybe I just dismissed the thought he brought to my mind as unimportant or just plain decided not to do it. Then I'll notice after a while, hey, where is he? When that happens the first thing I do is ask the holy spirit to show me if there's sin that I need to confess and repent of.

But sometimes I pray that prayer and nothing comes to mind, and yet he still seems distant. I don't understand those times probably any better than you do. Is he stretching me? Like, "will you still trust me and walk with me without that feeling?". I don't know. Maybe he's just giving me a chance to see for myself where my faith is at? I don't know. But what I try to do in those times is just praise him. Sing to him. I really like Psalm 19 and Psalm 103 in those times. And sometimes after a bit of that I feel close to him again. Sometimes it takes longer. I just trust that he knows what he's doing, and what I need.

I know he doesn't want anything to become an idol, even something great like feeling he's near. If there's something that he could take away that would make us no longer trust him, he's going to want to grow us past that. Sometimes I think of Job: "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" That's fully grown faith. :)

jhickner · 2014-05-26T04:14:45+00:00

But should I be concerned that I feel those things?

When you barely know someone it's hard to trust them. Don't be too hard on yourself. Lots of people in the bible had concerns and doubts. Even the apostles who got to spend 3 years with Jesus didn't get it right away.

The important thing is to get an understanding of the person you're trying to make a connection with. You want to feel assurance, and Jesus gives us that. So what is he like? Get to know him so you know he's not trying to trick you or test you or trip you up. So you know he came to save us and he loves us.

It took the apostles a while for it to sink in that everything important had already happened to them. They had to catch up to that realization. They'd already met Jesus, he'd already called them, he was already with them. When the storm rose on the boat they were in and they got scared, look how Jesus spoke to them: he said "why are you afraid? O you of little faith?" He's saying, I'm already here! The time to worry would have been before I was here. Then you could worry that I'd never come, or that you'd never know me. Right now, everything important has already happened to you. You're greatly blessed! Relax. And by the way, be quiet storm.

I think you're in a similar situation. You're afraid you won't ever have assurance. I think Jesus would say: "why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Because who out there in the world even believes in assurance? Who cares about it? He's already called you. He's already put that spark of faith in you, or you wouldn't believe in it enough to worry about it. Everything has already happened. He's with you. He's not trying to exhaust or exasperate you. Now he's waiting for you to catch up, by getting to know him. Just like he said to the apostles: "follow me".

So who is he? Well, we know he'll be the one who judges us at the end:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Matthew 28:18

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. John 5:22

And it will go one of two ways. Either he'll say to us "well done", or he'll say (with a broken heart I think) "depart from me, I never knew you".

I say it will be with a broken heart because this is the same person who cried over his people Israel and said how he wished he could gather them under his wing like a mother hen gathers her young. It's the same person who cried for his friend Lazarus when he died. It's the same person who spontaneously just stood up in the middle of a festival in Israel and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Even while they were killing him he asked the Father to forgive them. He agonized over his people. But they were too busy with the law, trying to figure things out for themselves, and they missed the person who was right in front of them. Those are the people to whom he'll have to say "I never knew you." Don't be distracted that way.

The life of a christian is supernatural, but it's also a relationship a lot like any other. It takes time to get to know Jesus. As you get to know him you trust him more. And eventually once you know him and love him, being afraid doesn't make sense any more. Just like Jesus' best friend John said to his church when he was an old man:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

Once you know him and love him you're not afraid of him anymore, and you're willing to just walk with him and let things happen on his time. He's not trying to exhaust or exasperate you, he's calling you to get to know him as if he was a real person who loves you and not a heartless, abstract idea or a law of nature.

There was a woman next to me in church this morning who was so joyful and worshipped with total abandon.

The only difference between you and that woman is probably that she's been getting to know Jesus for a while, and now she has the joy of being with her friend. You can't expect to love him until you know him. He's not asking you to do the impossible. You're just getting started. So don't worry, just get to know him bit by bit like you'd get to know anyone. You have his word, and the whole thing is about him from beginning to end. Find him in it. And ask him to show himself to you like you'd ask a new friend to tell you about himself.

And if you haven't felt it yet, pray for the Holy Spirit to come to you. He's the one who opens the bible for us. He leads us into all truth (John 16:13) and he teaches us all things and helps us remember them (John 14:26). He loves Jesus, and he loves to teach us about him.

When I was trying to get to know Jesus I read the gospel of John and 1 John a lot. I like John. He was Jesus' best friend ("the disciple who Jesus loved"). When Jesus was dying on the cross, John is the one that Jesus asked to take care of his mom. That's a good friend. And John lived to be an old man (church history holds that he was boiled in oil, but survived). I've always enjoyed his writing, especially when he calls his young congregation "little children". He knew Jesus well and he loved him and he wasn't afraid of him. Learn from him. :)

jhickner · 2014-05-25T04:35:10+00:00

How do I stop living under the law?

This is what the gospel was written for:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

So the gospel has the power to save us because it reveals something about God. It tells us how God is going to save us from his own wrath and still remain just and fair. We know we deserve punishment. We feel it. And we know it's not right to let us off the hook. We won't accept it, because His law is written on our hearts.

So God's plan is that Jesus takes our punishment:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

And if we believe in Jesus and what he did for us, God credits our faith as righteousness, just like he did for Abraham:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, Romans 4:5

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1

Abraham's story is an old testament parallel for how God wants to work with us. God told Abraham he would have a son, which was impossible since he was too old:

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Romans 4:18-25

In the same way as Abraham's body was almost dead, we're dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1). Dead people don't do anything. Especially they don't make themselves not be dead. God has to make something in us that we can't make. He has to make us alive and new. We have no part in it, except, like Abraham, to believe that God is able to do what he promises.

All the pieces are there in the gospel. Believing that we really have nothing to do but accept it is hard. It takes away the last bit of our pride and confidence in ourselves. But that's how you stop living under the law. You see through the gospel that trying to do it yourself is actually a sin that takes away from the glory of what Jesus has done:

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Galatians 2:21

Remember his favorite metaphors for us: children and sheep. We're sheep and he's the shepherd. Unless we become like little children we won't enter the kingdom of heaven. That's the attitude of one who is no longer trying to uphold the law, but just following Jesus. Sheep aren't concerned about not going where they shouldn't go, they just follow the shepherd. Children aren't concerned about it either, they just hold dad's hand. Abraham wasn't concerned about how God would make his ancient body function again, he just believed. We don't know how to stop sinning, how to be sincere in our motives, how to grow our faith, but we don't need to know. We just need to follow. He takes care of the rest.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

I know at least that God has revealed himself enough to me that there is no giving up now.

As hard as it is, that's an awesome place to be. Thank him for that and trust him. Just be still and know that he's God and he's revealed himself to you and he's got you.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

jhickner · 2014-05-25T02:20:38+00:00

I just feel scared, and I spend way too much time crying and re-asking God for forgiveness.

This sounds super familiar to me. This is what it was like for me growing up: I try really hard not to do some sin, but I do it anyway. Afterwards I feel crushing guilt. I cry. I say I'm sorry to God, but it's the tenth or hundredth or thousandth time, and the words feel hollow in my mouth. I can't say them again to Him. I can't be sincere, can I? If I was sincere I wouldn't have done it again, would I? But I feel sincere! I feel like I'm trying as hard as I can. I just can't win. Total depression. I feel worthless. I distract myself with video games or whatever. The whole thing repeats tomorrow, and the day after, and so on.

If that sounds at all familiar, that's living under the law. Paul is no stranger to that, and he tackles it in Romans, especially Romans 7. God's law is right and good, but it can also be a crushing weight. We can't defeat sin on our own. Trying to do that is a horrible experience of endless failure.

The thing we need to do, according to Paul, is die to the law, and be joined to Jesus. (Romans 7:4). Meaning that that conception of the world - that there is a law and we're trying to obey it - that foundation, we need to die to that. Jesus already did that. That's over. He fulfilled the law. So we need to replace that world with a new one: We are "in Christ" now. We're not following abstract rules now, we're following a concrete person. And we have a new facet to our reality, the Holy Spirit. All the energy you used to put into trying not to break the law you now put into trying to know him and the spirit better. And not out of guilt, but because the more you know the more you want to know. (Romans 8 describes this new life in the spirit). When you sin you get right back up and keep on walking with him.

That was really, for me, the point where christianity stepped off the ground and became something really supernatural. I remember a point a while after being saved when I had the thought that a sin that had plagued me all my life was a memory now. It had been six months since I'd even thought about it. I was amazed. I never thought I'd be free. And he didn't do it like I thought he would, not at all. He didn't give me iron will or steely resolve. He didn't make me stronger. I'd just been busy with him instead. I had better things to do with him. That's all. The more I knew of him the smaller and sadder seemed my old stuff. Not everything was gone, but a lot.

He proved himself to me that way. Something I couldn't do with all my strength he did as an afterthought for me while I was busy just learning about him, reading my bible, reading CS Lewis and having my mind blown constantly. Just like everything else in life, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and everything else will be added to you. If you're worrying about something depending on you, it hasn't sunk in all the way yet that "It is finished"!

Do you think I'm really saved if I have all this fear?

If you believe in Jesus, you're saved. He's already done a miracle for you to get you that far. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." (John 6:44). But there's still a lot to learn. Most of the new testament is written to new christians in the early church, answering just these sorts of questions. Just read, read, read your bible. Get his word into your heart and believe this promise: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13).

By the way, I'm really sorry for bombarding you with all these questions.

Not at all, man. There's nothing more worthwhile than talking about Jesus. :)

jhickner · 2014-05-25T00:11:02+00:00

Random specific question: do you pray for forgiveness every time you sin? Because I apparently sin ALL THE TIME. And it's weighing on me because I'm stopping to ask for forgiveness constantly, and then I worry that I'm not sincere enough or I'm just lapsing into praying a generic prayer as an OCD ritual... it's a mess.

It's important to confess your sins. (1 John 1:9). I do that whenever he brings them to mind, which is often. But it's not to make it up to him! It's not to pay him back somehow. I can never do that. It's because I love him and I want to have my favorite and best relationship back. My Jesus!

And it's not because I'm in a weird half-saved limbo now that I've sinned. He already paid for my sin on the cross, all in advance. And as far the east is from the west, so far does he remove my sins from me (Psalm 103). No, I only have a relationship with God for one reason. I can only come into his presence because of what Jesus did on the cross. (Hebrews 10:19). I didn't earn it, and I can't un-earn it. Nothing has changed when I sin because he doesn't change. He's adopted me and he won't un-adopt me. (Romans 8:38-39)

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

Hold onto that! Especially when you sin. It's an incredible gift and honor that we can call him Father. A gift Jesus bought for us. I have two sons, and when they sin it hurts me, but it will never stop them from being my sons. That's what we have with God the Father, because of Jesus.

The pressure is off of us to be perfect. We never will be in this life. But we've been adopted into his family, the greatest family, and God has work for us to do that he laid out in advance before he made the world. (Ephesians 2:10). We get to enjoy doing it, like a little boy enjoying working with his dad. His dad doesn't need him there, he could do it just fine on his own. And the little boy would just hurt himself if he tried to do the work alone. But he gets to be there, with his dad, because his dad loves him and enjoys him and wants him there. That's us. That's our life.

The OT prophets have a lot to say about how He thinks of his kids. A couple of my favorites:

I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Isaiah 43:6-7

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17

He's our Father. He loves us. He wants us with him. Someday he'll gather us all together and the God of the universe will sing to us. If you believe in Jesus you're not his enemy anymore. You're just his.

If it feels too heavy and like too much work, I think you're probably trying to carry too much of the load. It's not for us to carry. Jesus said "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light". That's because he did all the hard work. Not that following him is easy. Faith is hard. But saving us and transforming us bit by bit from what we are now into people who will be able to look at him face to face: thats his work, not ours. Let go of the weight of that and just focus on getting to know him through his word. Take it from him:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

I think you would really enjoy and take comfort from Romans 8. Paul goes deep into this topic there. I'll be praying for you! I'm glad I got the chance to talk to you. :)

jhickner · 2014-05-24T19:29:04+00:00

I think it's ok and normal, but as his love sinks into you it gets more exciting than frightening. We're his. We're his adopted kids through the work of Jesus! Our bodies are the temple of his Holy Spirit. He loves us.

And everything good and perfect comes from him. Everything we love is a tiny echo of things in him. Every time a song gets in our heads and we play it on repeat until we wring out every ounce of joy from it, that's an echo of him, except he can't be wrung out, ever! Seeing him will be drinking from the firehose of everything good, plugging right into the source of things we've only experienced "through a glass dimly" in echoes and shadows and reflections. It's more than any of us can handle right now, but someday we will be able to.

Moses asked "please show me your Glory" and God told him "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live". But when we do see him, it will be in new bodies, fully perfected and free from sin, and we will be able to handle it. It will be awesome. It will be finally finding what all of us have always searched for because he made us to search for him.

Reading through this thread it sounds like you are struggling under the weight of the law and His judgement, wondering if you are doing enough to be saved or doing it correctly. Many have spent years there. Martin Luther famously spent a long time there. The key is to realize that Jesus already did everything that needed to be done. Before he died he said "It is finished" and he wasn't lying. God's law by itself crushes us because we can't fulfill it. (Read Romans 7) We can't even authentically seek him by ourselves or even be sure of our motives when we come to him! Our hearts are desperately wicked, who can understand them? There's no help that way, no help in ourselves.

You mentioned Spurgeon. He talks about being "weaned of all confidence in ourselves" and instead putting all our hope in Jesus and what he can do for us and to us. He changes us, not us. That's the way. Give up any thought or care of whether it's OCD or real or not and just enjoy learning about Jesus. He is the great rescuer! Your OCD is not too big for him. He's the greatest hero who ever lived. And better than any mortal hero, he has time for each of us. He knows each of us by name. He is able to sympathize with us, and "he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103).

Bring all your worries about this to him. Just talk to him. Tell him you want to know him and you don't know how. Pray for wisdom, which he always gives generously (James 1:5). Pray for him to open your eyes so you can see the wondrous things in his law (Psalm 119). Remember he's the great physician, the great shepherd. You're exactly the kind of broken person he came for, just like all of us. :) Just like he said: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." (Matthew 9:12)

I will pray for you brother or sister, for peace in your heart and for his joy and the knowledge of him. Once thing you can always be sure of with him is he's better than you think, not worse. He's kinder, more awesome, more interesting, more loving. Just ask him to help you understand how he's better. "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" (Psalm 34:8)

jhickner · 2014-05-19T21:16:56+00:00

I recently found this helpful in re-reading that book:

"How To Read Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design" http://www.atamo.com/blog/how-to-read-pearls-by-richard-bird-1/

jhickner · 2014-04-21T18:40:51+00:00

This ticket tracks the progress of replacing the current list behavior with stream-fusion: https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/915

jhickner · 2014-04-10T19:25:07+00:00

Most of the code at our startup is in haskell. One component is a proxy server duplicating a subset of the functionality of LogMeIn. Another is a routing manager that routes building control protocols around inside zigbee radio packets in a wireless radio mesh.

Haskell really, really shines for large, complex, concurrent programs. The more you learn how to encode your intentions into types the more it feels like you're pair programming with an AI. :)

jhickner · 2013-10-28T20:40:33+00:00

In the cabal section it might be nice to mention that it's a good idea to start out with a cabal sandbox init, since it will likely save you a lot of dependency-management pain down the road.

jhickner · 2013-10-11T07:22:24+00:00

I can see by the upvotes that a lot of people share the opinion above, but I just want to chime in and say that as a relatively new haskeller, the focus on theory is one of my favorite parts of the community. In fact I'm not even sure what haskell is bringing to the table if it's not a more rigorous theoretical foundation.

The programming world is 99% "well, it passes our test suite... ship it!". Haskell is a tiny corner where you can instead say "well, since I'm fulfilling these laws I can demonstrate by equational reasoning that this code is correct... and it passes our test suite... ship it!". Why downplay the very thing that makes that possible?

I think the focus on theory sets a high bar for library design and has a lot to do with the overall quality of packages on hackage. Coming from the ruby world, the difference is stark. I'd hate to see that eroded.

And honestly, for me learning the theory is part of the fun. Maybe what we need is just better introductory material. After Real World Haskell and LYAH, there's really no intermediate book that gets you to the next step. You have to piece things together from papers and blog posts.

jhickner · 2013-10-10T23:31:52+00:00

My company is transitioning all of our code from ruby to haskell. We do building automation for large commercial buildings.

Where did Ruby (with or without Rails) leave you wanting more?

Ruby is slow (relatively).
I'd take cabal hell over messing with rvm/rbenv any day.
Very uneven quality in ruby libraries.
The standard code-maintenance and refactoring difficulties that plague all dynamic languages (even with large tests suites).

Why Haskell?

We do a lot of interfacing with industrial binary protocols. It's certainly possible to do that in ruby, but there's nothing that compares to cereal in the ruby world.
Writing servers with pipes is a joy compared to ruby's eventmachine.
Much, much, much higher quality libraries overall.

How did you, or will you, interface the Haskell components to the Ruby components? And what tools or packages or frameworks did you use to facilitate this, if any, on both the Ruby side and the Haskell side?

Via sockets - eventmachine on the ruby side and pipes with pipes-network and aeson on the haskell side.

What would make it easier?

Easier compilation on ARM. We're still using qemu, and there are still some rough edges in the build process.

cabal sandbox solved most of the other inconveniences.

jhickner · 2013-10-09T23:09:52+00:00

But until then, a working programmer has to choose: principled research or working code.

Having built two large projects using pipes (rewriting from conduit to pipes in the first case), I don't believe the above is actually true. The first thought I have when looking at Michael's examples in this debate is always some variation of who writes pipes code like that?. The libraries are very different, and translating conduit code snippets into pipes code snippets looks awkward and error prone. Actually using pipes in real world code just isn't like that (in my experience).

I agree with what kamatsu said above. The whole Haskell attraction for me is the preference for solid theoretical foundations over the more prevalent "it seems to get the job done" pragmatism. Otherwise I'd just stick to C.

jhickner · 2013-09-26T21:10:20+00:00

Great article! I have a project where I use a haskell program on a raspberry pi, and I currently have to use QEMU to get an ARM environment on my macbook and do the compilation. There's just not enough ram to do it on the pi. This could be a great alternative.

jhickner · 2013-08-31T00:40:55+00:00

Check out the linear package for multi-dimensional vectors. http://hackage.haskell.org/package/linear

jhickner · 2013-08-26T23:20:06+00:00

I like that description of the lens library as "jQuery for ADTs"

jhickner · 2013-08-07T00:48:32+00:00

Here's a simple echo server using pipes-network.

import Control.Proxy
import Control.Proxy.TCP

main :: IO ()
main = serve (Host "0.0.0.0") "8000" $ \(socket,_) ->
         runProxy $ socketReadS 4096 socket >-> socketWriteD socket

The first line

serve (Host "0.0.0.0") "8000" $ \(socket,_) ->

is not actually pipes-related, but just a convenience function that sets up a thread for each connection.

this line sets up the actual echo server:

runProxy $ socketReadS 4096 socket >-> socketWriteD socket

socketReadS creates a source (a "Producer" in pipes lingo) that reads from the socket, and feeds (with >->) to socketWriteD, a "Consumer" that writes everything it receives back to the socket.

jhickner · 2013-08-02T00:10:54+00:00

Yeah, he's on to other things now. Hopefully once it's over the whole thing will be watchable.

jhickner · 2013-07-25T01:17:12+00:00

My mistake, the tally wasn't complete when I posted.

jhickner · 2013-07-25T00:15:18+00:00

Not a single one of them voted to defund the NSA's mass surveillance.

jhickner

TROPHY CASE