[web-devel] Hoogle Advice

[Michael Snoyman]

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 8:29 PM, Chris Smith <cdsmith at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2011-01-25 at 20:10 +0200, Michael Snoyman wrote:
>> > That's one of the main reasons I've designed Yesod and WAI the way I
>> > have. By splitting the project up into so many pieces (Hamlet,
>> > Persistent, authenticate, etc), users get to pick and choose exactly
>> > what they want.
>> >
>> > Yes. Happstack is the same way.
>>
>> Yes, and I'm a fan of that. I just wish that other frameworks (cough,
>> cough) could take a similar approach.
>
> What parts of Snap would you like to see split out into separate
> projects?  Heist is completely independent of Snap.  And snap-server is
> already a separate package from snap-core that handles the low-level
> HTTP stuff, though perhaps the module boundary isn't exactly where and
> like you're accustomed to.  As of now, the Snap project doesn't really
> have an endorsed answer for persistence; if Snap ever decides that it
> needs its own new entry into persistence frameworks (which I don't yet
> see a reason for; there's really no need for all of us to reinvent
> everything!), I have no doubt it'll be split into its own package as
> well.
>
> Granted, there is an umbrella mechanism for pulling these things
> together and making them interoperate in the same application -- that's
> the extensions mechanism.  But I'd consider it a flaw if an extension
> actually contained substantial independent ideas; the model Snap is
> following thus far is to provide functionality with a natural interface,
> and *also* an extension to help integrate it together.
>
> Just my thoughts; not speaking for anyone else!

Sorry, you're right: Snap *has* done a good job of releasing a number
of auxiliary packages: attoparsec-iteratee, Heist, the upcoming
xmlhtml package. I should not have implied otherwise. Without
reopening an old debate, I'm referring to the avoidance of WAI. Also,
I've heard a number of people (yourself included) touting how good the
routing mechanism is in Snap. I know routing is fairly central to a
framework, so it may not be possible to separate out. But Happstack
and Yesod are both able to use web-routes, it would be nice to see a
similar concept from Snap.

Looking back at the snap-core and snap-server packages, it
*definitely* seems like I misspoke: most functionality that *could* be
split off seems to already have been. My apologies.

Michael