[Haskell] ANN: Open Quark Framework for Java released as Open Source

[Luke Evans]

Further to the seeding of the binary framework and SDK as announced on this
list last year, Business Objects is pleased to announce that the Open Quark
Framework for Java has now been released as open source under a BSD-style
license.  

The Open Quark Framework for Java includes a language, CAL, similar in many
respects to Haskell, which is compiled to efficient byte code on the Java
platform.  The purpose of Open Quark began, and remains, the ability to
conveniently mix logic expressed in a natural functional style with
'regular' Java code.  Business Objects' interest in the functional paradigm
is that much of the logic to model complex data semantics and to express
data transformation is elegantly and reusably represented as pure functions.
This contrasts with the corpus of application logic that represents
workflow, UI, communications and storage, which is predominantly coded
directly in OO languages such as Java but with which the data logic must
interoperate.  Despite the original motivations for the Quark Framework, CAL
is a completely general purpose non-strict functional language and suitable
for a broad range of applications.

We have made available a suite of documentation, included in the software
packages and separately downloadable.  These documents should inform those
with both a casual interest in the project (and its similarities/differences
to Haskell) as well as those who wish to explore the language, SDK and tools
in more detail.  

Open Quark can be downloaded, with or without sources from:
http://labs.businessobjects.com/cal
Unlike the previous 'seeding' regime, no registration is required to obtain
Open Quark. 

Business Objects remains very active on the project and intends to set up
the necessary mechanisms to allow the community to contribute easily to the
project.  While these arrangements will take a little longer, we are already
very happy to receive any/all comments, suggestions and contributions.  A
discussion forum is already available for such activity (see the main web
page).  A major priority for the immediate future is to deepen the Eclipse
integration in order to improve the convenience for developers using CAL.

Luke Evans
Chief Scientist, VP Research, Business Objects