Haskell for non-Haskell's sake

[Joost Visser]

Hi Hal and others,

We would like to hear your thoughts on the viability of a conference or=20
workshop dedicated to applications of Haskell for non-Haskell purposes.

On Saturday 30 August 2003 01:39, Hal Daume III wrote:
> I'm attempting to get a sense of the topology of the Haskell
> community.  Based on the Haskell Communities & Activities reports, it
> seems that the large majority of people use Haskell for Haskell's sake.

This bias seems to exist not only in the Communities & Activities reports=
, but=20
also in the Haskell mailing lists and in the Haskell-related events, such=
 as=20
the Haskell Workshop. One could easily deduce that Haskell is still very =
much=20
an academic language, of interest to language _designers_ more than to=20
language _users_. However, the reactions to your inquiry about use of Has=
kell=20
for non-Haskell purposes suggests that a significant group of language=20
_users_ does actually exist, though their voice is not heard too often.

We think (hope) there could be room for a "Haskell One" event, quite a bi=
t=20
more modest than JavaOne, but similarly intended to bring together Haskel=
l=20
Developers. Submissions would be explicitly judged by how practical and h=
ow=20
"proven" the described technology is. Experience reports would be more th=
an=20
welcome. There could be interactive tool-demo's, hands-on lab sessions, a=
=20
programming contest, etc.

If the focus is on applications only (excluding theory, language-design, =
and=20
anything that is Haskell-for-Haskell's sake), this HaskellOne event could=
=20
maybe be a satelite to PLI.

We are interested to know your thoughts on such an event, and whether the=
=20
outcome of your poll suggests it could be viable.

Regards,
Joost Visser & Jo=E3o Saraiva

PS: If sufficient interest exists, we are willing to contribute to the=20
origanization.

--=20
Dr. ir. Joost Visser   | Departamento de Inform=E1tica
phone  +351-253-604461 | Universidade do Minho
fax    +351-253-604471 | mailto:Joost.Visser@di.uminho.pt
mobile +351-91-6253618 | http://alfa.di.uminho.pt/~joost.visser