How comprehensive is the book per language?

googling for reviews brings up interesting information regarding the book, how deep does it go into each of the languages? From what I'm reading it looks like just introducing each language with a problem to solve pragmatically after each language, however how difficult are the problems and how detailed are the introductions?

Scala looks exciting (as a java developer interested in functional programming.) Haskell I've already started diving into however would not want to learn both, would I be correct in assuming this would be a good read in terms of helping me decide which to pick up next?

Thanks in advance

Lance Colton wrote:googling for reviews brings up interesting information regarding the book, how deep does it go into each of the languages? From what I'm reading it looks like just introducing each language with a problem to solve pragmatically after each language, however how difficult are the problems and how detailed are the introductions?

Scala looks exciting (as a java developer interested in functional programming.) Haskell I've already started diving into however would not want to learn both, would I be correct in assuming this would be a good read in terms of helping me decide which to pick up next?

Thanks in advance

It will not take you into too much depth. The goal is to cover the essence of a language, and get to the point where I solve a nontrivial problem with each language. For Ruby, we solve a simple metaprogramming problem; for Prolog, we solve a Sudoku; for Scala, we count words on four different web pages concurrently.

The idea of the book is not to be a reference for an individual language, but to tap the joy for programming to program using a new language. If you're choosing from two or more languages in the book, it would be an excellent resource. If you're looking for more of a Scala reference, I'd suggest my good friend Venkat Subramanyam's scala book found here: http://pragprog.com/titles/vsscala/programming-scala

So yeah, for choosing a language to dive into next, I'd say it would be excellent. If you get a PDF at the prags, you wouldn't pay more than for taking the kids to a ball game or a movie.

Bruce Tate wrote:
It will not take you into too much depth. The goal is to cover the essence of a language, and get to the point where I solve a nontrivial problem with each language. For Ruby, we solve a simple metaprogramming problem; for Prolog, we solve a Sudoku; for Scala, we count words on four different web pages concurrently.

The idea of the book is not to be a reference for an individual language, but to tap the joy for programming to program using a new language. If you're choosing from two or more languages in the book, it would be an excellent resource. If you're looking for more of a Scala reference, I'd suggest my good friend Venkat Subramanyam's scala book found here: http://pragprog.com/titles/vsscala/programming-scala

So yeah, for choosing a language to dive into next, I'd say it would be excellent. If you get a PDF at the prags, you wouldn't pay more than for taking the kids to a ball game or a movie.

Thanks for the recommendation

It'll be the first place I go if I decide to pick up Scala, I'd have to do some more reading on it to decide on committing to the next language I pick up. I am leaning that way though because of the fact its interpreted inside of the JVM. I already bought a book on Haskell and it has been pretty interesting however with work, school, and my own open source projects it's hard to pick up another language just for fun.

I think with Haskell and Java you can easily pick Scala

And another interesting book which I would suggest for Scala- Programming in Scala by Martin Odersky and others.

Mohamed Sanaulla wrote:I think with Haskell and Java you can easily pick Scala And another interesting book which I would suggest for Scala- Programming in Scala by Martin Odersky and others.

Yes. I agree on both counts. Martin's book is excellent as well. He's the author of the language, and he did an interview for my book!