2 Ancient secret keeping on modern machines

This chapter covers

How to set up a basic Haskell project and run some code
An overview of common Haskell data types and how functions work
Performing basic operations with strings and lists
Using guards and pattern matching for handling case distinctions
Working with immutable data and how to represent transformations

In the last chapter we learned about what Haskell is and discussed its peculiar language design decisions. We also learned some specifics on pure functions and how pure functional programs, such as the ones we write with Haskell, are structured. Although it is essential to understand these concepts, it’s not much use talking about them, without getting our hands a bit dirty. You can’t learn the application of theory without applying anything. So let’s get down to implementing our first tiny project!

2.1 A primer on Haskell for primitive encryption

2.1.1 The Caesars cipher

2.1.2 A new project

2.2 Typical types and fantastic functions

2.2.1 Atomic types

2.2.2 Lists and tuples

2.2.3 Function types

2.3 Little help with the alphabet

2.4 Rotating the wheel

2.4.1 Finding an elements index

2.4.2 Finding the element at an index

2.5 Transforming a string

2.6 Summary