There is a common misconception that the purpose of writing Haskell programs is to instruct a machine to perform certain computations, and to report the results thereof. This myth is perpetrated by numerous lecture courses, books, websites and other media, which merely teach how to write programs with the desired functionality.

In actual fact, to write a good Haskell program is to create a work of art. As such, any Haskell program worth writing must be beautiful. In fact, rumour has it that the GHC optimiser analyses programs it is asked to compile and, if it finds it aesthetically pleasing, will work harder to make your program run faster.

But what determines whether a Haskell program is beautiful or not? Read on, my intrepid friend, and you shall find out!

Ian: Good Haskell Style