Haskell's algebraic data types

Question

I\'m trying to fully understand all of Haskell\'s concepts.

In what ways are algebraic data types similar to generic types, e.g., in C# and Java? And how are they di

Answer 1

For me, the concept of Haskell's algebraic data types always looked like polymorphism in OO-languages like C#.

Look at the example from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_data_types:

data Tree = Empty 
          | Leaf Int 
          | Node Tree Tree

This could be implemented in C# as a TreeNode base class, with a derived Leaf class and a derived TreeNodeWithChildren class, and if you want even a derived EmptyNode class.

(OK I know, nobody would ever do that, but at least you could do it.)