🐏 Learn Haskell - A GitHub-Driven Learning Course

Welcome to the Haskell by Doing course! This is a modern, GitHub-optimized path to mastering Haskell, designed to grow your skills and your profile ⭐.

Whether you're just starting out or brushing up, this course will walk you through functional programming concepts using a structured, visual, and hands-on approach.

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✨ Why This Course?

• ✅ Beginner-friendly explanations
• 🔍 Real-world code examples
• 🔁 Step-by-step challenges
• 🌱 Build incrementally- one concept at a time
• 🌐 Grow your GitHub with visible progress

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🧠 How This Course Works

1. 📖 Learn a Concept

• Short, clear explanations
• 💡 Minimal but focused code examples
• 🎨 Visuals and edge cases explained

2. 🏋️‍♂️ Try It Yourself

• Solve challenges in each lesson folder
• ⬆️ Push your work to GitHub
• 📝 Add notes on what confused you

3. 🧩 Level Up Over Time

• Each module builds on the last
• 🧠 Develop intuition, not just syntax

4. 🗒️ Document What You Learn

• Use the built-in note system (or create your own)
• 🚩 Keep track of mistakes, gotchas, and "aha" moments

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📝 Reading Notes and Lessons in VS Code

All lessons and notes use Markdown (.md) files for a clean, readable experience in VS Code.

💡 Tip:

• Right-click any .md file (like README.md, 01-Fundamentals.md, etc.) and choose “Open Preview”
• Or use the shortcut:
  • Mac: Cmd + Shift + V
  • Windows/Linux: Ctrl + Shift + V

This opens a styled, easy-to-read view, perfect for:

📚 What?	📝 File(s)
Lecture explanations	/content/*.md
Your personal notes	/notes/*.md
Exercise walkthroughs	lesson folders

You can also split the editor and open the preview side-by-side with the text for even better workflow!

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⚙️ Getting Set Up

📦 Step 1: Install GHC, Cabal & Stack

Install via GHCup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://get-ghcup.haskell.org | sh

This will install:

• ghc → The Haskell compiler
• cabal → Standard Haskell build tool
• stack → Optional alternative build tool (you may not need it, but it's good to have)

After installation, restart your terminal, then check your install:

ghc --version
cabal --version
stack --version  # optional

✅ If you see version numbers, your installation is successful.

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💻 Step 2: Install VS Code + Extensions

Download Visual Studio Code if you don’t have it.

Recommended Extensions:

Extension	Publisher	Why
🟣 Haskell	Haskell	Full support: errors, warnings, type hints, go-to-definition (HLS).
🎨 Haskell Syntax Highlighting	Justus Adam	Adds proper syntax coloring for .hs files.

⚠️ What you don't need:

• Live Server or Code Runner → Not needed for Haskell
• Old/unmaintained Haskell extensions → stick to the two above

After installing the Haskell extension, VS Code will prompt you to install Haskell Language Server (HLS) if it isn’t already set up.
👉 Accept that prompt.

With both extensions installed, you’ll get syntax highlighting + smart Haskell editing.

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✅ Step 3: Clone the Course Repo

The course is pre-structured, i.e. you don’t need to create a new project. Just clone and open it:

git clone https://github.com/AskewCow/haskell-by-doing
cd haskell-course
code . # Opens folder in vsc

You’re ready to go! 🎉 Start with 01-Fundamentals/content

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🧪 Optional: Test That VS Code Works

Open any .hs file in VS Code and make sure you see:

• Autocompletion
• Type info when hovering over expressions
• Inline error messages (if something’s wrong)
• Haskell-specific color syntax

If all of those are working, then HLS is active and everything is set up properly.

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🚀 Ready to Start Your Haskell Journey?

You're all set! 🎉 Dive into the lessons, experiment, and don't forget to jot down your discoveries and mistakes in your notes.

Happy Haskell-ing! 🐏✨