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RubyConf AU 2016: In recent months Katie's Facebook team has completely replaced an in-house interpreted language, moving to a strong and statically typed Haskell DSL called Haxl. Dozens of Facebook developers have become functional programmers, using the open-source Haxl framework to battle spam at scale. This talk will explain how Haskell shines in this context, bust a few myths about the language, and highlight lessons Rubyists and Haskellers could learn from each other.
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In the video titled 'Pursuing the Strong, Not So Silent Type: A Haskell Story' presented at RubyConf AU 2016, speaker Katie Miller shares her experiences transitioning from Ruby to Haskell while working at Facebook. Miller discusses the successful migration from an in-house interpreted language, FXL, to a strong and statically typed Haskell DSL called Haxl, which is used to combat spam and malicious content across Facebook's platforms. The main points of the talk include: - **Cultural Adaptation**: Katie reflects on her experiences as an Australian adapting to UK culture, using this analogy to introduce her foreigner status within the Ruby community, as a Haskeller. - **Haskell Language Features**: The talk emphasizes two crucial aspects of Haskell: its functional programming paradigm and strong static typing. These features provide useful abstractions and correctness guarantees essential for robust software development. - **Use Case at Facebook**: Miller presents the use case of Haxl at Facebook, designed to evaluate user actions for spam generation efficiently. This involves using a rule engine (Sigma) to check the legitimacy of posts in real-time, leveraging Haskell's capabilities to handle high volumes of data efficiently. - **Performance Improvements**: The migration from FXL to Haskell resulted in significant performance enhancements, citing a 20 times speed-up in some cases and improved efficiency in data fetching and processing. - **Myths Surrounding Haskell**: Miller addresses common misconceptions about Haskell, such as its perception as solely an academic language, highlighting its practical applications in production environments like Facebook. - **Learning Curve**: She discusses the challenges associated with learning Haskell, especially for developers coming from imperative programming backgrounds, and outlines Facebook's organized approach to onboarding new Haskell programmers through structured courses and support groups. - **Community Insights**: Katie synthesizes valuable lessons from both the Ruby and Haskell communities, stressing the importance of community engagement and inclusive documentation in supporting new developers. In conclusion, Miller invites the audience to explore Haskell and its functional programming concepts, asserting that learning from other programming languages can enrich one’s understanding and improve coding practices. She encourages attendees to engage with the open-source Haxl project and continues to advocate for the merits of Haskell in tackling practical software challenges.
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