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8

There are several web frameworks for Haskell like Happstack, Snap, and Yesod, and probably a few more.

In what aspects do they differ from each other? For example:

  • features (e.g. server only, or also client scripting, easy support for different kinds of database)
  • maturity (e.g. stability, documentation quality)
  • scalability (e.g. performance, handy abstraction)
  • main targets

Also, what are examples of real-world sites / web apps using these frameworks?

Many thanks.

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2  
+1 Although I don't know Haskell, this could be interesting. – Anto Mar 9 '11 at 21:12
Are there free hosts available for Haskell websites? What would the requirements be for a server? – Alison Mar 10 '11 at 16:01
@Alison - I would assume not since you would most likely need a VPS or dedicated server. – Jetti Mar 10 '11 at 17:15
you could use the free tier at Amazon EC2 I guess for hosting – Zachary K Mar 27 '11 at 6:58
I was really hoping to get some people talking about other frameworks (so we could compare) – Zachary K Mar 27 '11 at 7:02

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote
+50

I can only speak on the behalf of Yesod, since I have only tried Snap and Yesod so far but quickly stuck with Yesod.

The main reason for Yesod is probably that it delivers a complete framework with a growing numbers of features, like

  • Typesafe Template Languages for HTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • Typesafe Routing
  • Splitting into Subsites
  • Database integration with Persistent
  • Pre-made subsites for re-occuring problems: Authorisation, Static, CRUD...

In my eyes, the big strength of Yesod is the compilation of its dynamic contents, e.g. HTML sites. The template site is parsed via Template Haskell and converted into a Haskell data structure. So the template is not parsed every time the user calls it. In my opinion, this is a major speed advantage, compared to PHP, and also to Snap which uses non-compiled templates, and it also helps a great deal for the scalability.

Yesod is approaching version 1.0 soon, according to its creator, and there are some Websites already running on it. I think the main target of Yesod is to deliver a type-safe, complete web application framework that delivers all your needs, and then some.

Also, Yesod integrates with the WAI-interface and works perfectly with the pure Haskell-server Warp.

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up vote 8 down vote

I have created a spreadsheet to list the features of the major frameworks and what features they have, as well as other information about them you might want to know

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