Evaluating Haste.App: Haskell in a web setting. Effects of using a seamless, linear, client-centric programming model

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate Haste.App, a newly developed Haskell library for distributed web applications. Haste.App promises to deliver multiple ease of use factors in addition to allowing the static type checking of Haskell to be extended over the network. It also pairs with the Haste compiler which compiles Haskell code to JavaScript. We conclude that Haste.App is a promising library that allows real world distributed web applications to be written in Haskell with ease. The seamless, client-centric programming model also has positive effects on programmer productivity. There are, however, some issues that will need to be addressed with Haste.App: some way of making sure the JavaScript is updated when the server is, standardisation when it comes to project structure, and some convenient way of handling DOM. In order to reach this conclusion, we evaluate Haste.App primarily based on three key aspects: performance, stability, and programmer productivity. The evaluation is performed by creating a simple online multiplayer board game and an attached lobby system.