Is Haskell mature enough for web applications?

Question

Seems that there are not much work done on Haskell for web. People uses it as a learning tool for functional programming more than business. Has anyone developed and deployed web application on Haskell, yet? Please, share the links.

The next session comments might change my mind and plan something else which could be also useful in terms of business. Guidance, Guidance, Please!

I'm planning to learn a functional programming language and I picked Haskell.

Is Haskell "cooked" enough to develop a commercial web application? Or should I start looking for other options, maybe even something other than a functional programming language, if it is worthy?

Investment in learning a language is very expensive and I want to make sure Haskell is really worth it to learn.

Guidance, Please.

Answer 1

As you learn new languages, the investment required decreases. Even if you start with Haskell, the functional knowledge you gain will help you learn other languages.

It also depends what language you come from. If you come from Java I'd suggest scala, if you come from .net I'd suggest f#

Answer 2

If you're going for web development I suggest you take a really deep look into the inside of JavaScript.
Javascript is a dynamic, weakly typed, prototype-based language with first-class functions.
It has many functional capeabilities and you can use either V8, TraceMonkey or the Windows Shell (but it runs JScript) to run it on none-browser enviorments.

Answer 3

Ramiz,

Your title mentions "commerical web applications," while your question doesn't, so I'm assuming that the end goal is to write a web application using a functional programming language.

If this is the case, I recommend that you start with yaws, a fast HTTP server written in the functional concurrent programming language Erlang. You'll learn the ups and downs of twisting PHP-like scripts into a functional mindset, much of which you can then translate into your work with Haskell.

If you'd really like to stick with Haskell, and the choice of language is more important to you than the general functional approach, then take a look at the Real World Haskell book (available online). That will give you a sense of how the language solves common problems that you might be interested in tackling while you learn the language.

Answer 4

I for one consider Haskell to be my secret weapon - that tool that gives me a little edge over other developers, and frequently find places to used it in my consulting jobs.

DSLs, for example, are pretty hot these days in custom software. Haskell is a ridiculously good fit for this type of work.

If that isn't the kind of "commercial" environment you have in mind, some kind of polyglot project is probably best (I think good UI is one of Haskell's weaknesses). I have a project going right now that has Haskell running as a fast cgi "service" in the back end (I tend not to like 'frameworks' too much, and really don't like the ones available for Haskell right now), served up by a Flex (Adobe Flash Platform) front end. The eventual intent for this project will be to be sold commercially* to smaller-to-medium sized businesses as a financial planning aid.

Last thing I'll say is that, while I personally love Haskell, I think its FP in general that provides the biggest direct benefit. To this end, if you find yourself eyeing another FP language such as F#, Scala or Erlang, and think it'll be a better fit then I say run with it.

*Actually, the project will be used internally for at least a year before marketting to outside parties begins.

Answer 5

If you're talking about web app development then the language you choose is only as mature as the libraries written around it for web development.

Answer 6

There's a fairly rich ecosystem of web related libraries and a small number of commercial users. The company I work at uses Haskell for web apps in the security market.

Have a look at the libraries to see what is on offer: http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/pkg-list.html#cat:web

Answer 7

There are a number of Haskell libraries for developing websites (Happstack, Kibro, Hack, Salvia, Turbinado); the problem is that it's hard to know which ones are good. Many of these libraries are quite young. I expect that the situation will become better in the next couple of years as these libraries mature, and become clearer as these libraries become better documented.

In the meantime, I would say that Haskell is a fine language for writing web applications, provided that you are willing to spend some time getting to know the libraries and perhaps improving them when they fall short of your needs.

Answer 8

Check out jinjing's code: http://github.com/nfjinjing/loli/tree/master Yes, it's still experimental. But it opens your eyes a bit.

Haskell itself is certainly cooked enough. People who don't trust Java use Haskell (see http://www.galois.com) when they need to protect the Government's data.

But Haskell's web frameworks leave something to be desired. So it may not be the most productive environment at the moment. But ... if you master it, untold power will be yours :)