I don't know who said it first, but I'm repeating it. 2011 is going to be the tipping point year for haskell web frameworks.
Thanks Jeremy! 2011/2/17 Jeremy Shaw <jer...@n-heptane.com>: > Hello, > > I am pleased to announce the release of Happstack 6. We fully recommend that > all Happstack users migrate to the new release. > > Happstack is a high-performance Haskell web framework. It has high-level > functionality for routing requests, extracting parameters, manipulating > responses, serving static file contents, compression responses, and more. It > includes an integrated HTTP server and a native RAM-cloud database system > known as MACID. This allows you to deploy your web application with out > having to configure apache, php, mysql, memcached, etc! > > Install instructions can be found here: > > http://happstack.com/download > > If you are porting existing applications you should check out the Happstack > 6 migration guide: > > http://code.google.com/p/happstack/wiki/Happstack6Migration > > Porting should be pretty straight-forward. Despite the massive > reorganization, the exports from Happstack.Server are largely the same. > > What's Exciting! > ---------------- > > The focus of this release has been happstack-server. The primary goal > was to make happstack-server much easier to learn and to use. > > This includes: > > 1. improving the overall organization of the library > 2. greatly improving the documentation > 3. making it easier to install > 4. ensuring that the server provides fast, reliable performance > 5. making it easier for new (and old) developers to understand and get > started > > If you have looked at Happstack before and found it too difficult to > understand, I highly recommend you take another look. The new organization > and documentation make it far easier to understand. > > More Logical Organiation > ------------------------ > > In prior versions, the Happstack.Server.SimpleHTTP module contained just > about everything, with little organization, and no real differentiation > between the external API and the library internals. In Happstack 6, > SimpleHTTP has been refactored into numerous, smaller modules. The internals > have been moved into Happstack.Server.Internal.* so that they are not > leaking into the external API. This should make it much easier to find what > you are looking for, and prevent you from accidently running across internal > things like the WebT monad, which you do not really need to know anything > about. > > Better Documentation > -------------------- > > The API documentation for happstack-server is also much better. All external > API functions should now have good haddock documentation with many inline > examples. > > However, learning a new library by studying the API documentation can still > be pretty frustrating. So we also have the brand new Happstack Crash Course. > http://happstack.com/docs/crashcourse/index.html. > > The Happstack Crash Course covers a vast majority of the happstack-server > API. It covers the API in a logical manner and includes many downloadable, > runnable examples. It is intended to be read start to finish, and to also be > usable as a reference guide for specific "How do I do XXX" questions. > > Additionally, the guestbook example has been updated to a cleaner, more > modern style of Happstack coding. It also has more comments/haddock > documentation. > > Better API > ---------- > > During the process of documenting Happstack, many small improvements where > made to the API. Once you try to document something stupid you realize how > stupid it is and decided it would be good to fix it first ;) > > For example, the Cookie API now makes it more obvious how to create session > cookies vs persistent cookies. And makes it obvious how to expire a cookie. > > The functions for looking up values in the query string and require body no > longer require the use of the RqData monad. You can use the look* functions > directly in the ServerPart monad. > > If you do choose to use RqData, it now has an Applicative instance which can > accummulate and report lookup errors. > (http://happstack.blogspot.com/2010/10/is-rqdata-monad-still-needed.html) > There are a bunch of other improvements to request data handling documented > here, http://happstack.com/docs/crashcourse/RqData.html. > > Easier Install > -------------- > > In order to make Happstack easier to install we have removed as many > dependencies as possible. happstack-data no longer depends on > happstack-util, which makes it easier to install happstack-data or > happstack-state with out the rest of the framework. HSP and HStringTemplate > support has been moved into *optional* happstack-hsp and > happstack-hstringtemplate packages. > > New Features > ------------ > > Happstack also has a number of new features including: > > - support for Heist templates > (http://happstack.com/docs/crashcourse/Templates.html#helloheist) > - support for Hamlet templates > - improved environment for extracting query string and form values > (http://happstack.blogspot.com/2010/10/is-rqdata-monad-still-needed.html) > - support for recompilation and reloading of templates in a running server > (http://happstack.blogspot.com/2010/10/recompile-your-haskell-based-templates.html) > - directory browsing when using serveDirectory > > And numerous other improvements including enhancements to IxSet, file > locking, and much more. > > Bigger, Better Version Number > ----------------------------- > > We have also upgraded our version numbers! We have decided to call this > release Happstack 6.0 instead of Happstack 0.6. There are two reasons for > this: > > 1. the amount of changes we are making really do represent a new major > release > 2. it will make it easier to comply with the Haskell package version > policy. > > Now that Happstack 6 is out, we plan to make more frequent releases. The new > version scheme will allow us to talk about the next major release (Happstack > 7), but still put out changes to Happstack 6 which change the API (aka, > Happstack 6.2, etc). > > GHC 7 - mostly > -------------- > > Happstack mostly works with GHC 7. Due to some compiler bugs, HSP does not > work with GHC 7.0.1. These bugs were reported and are fixed in the upcoming > GHC 7.0.2 release. If you are not using the optional happstack-hsp package, > then GHC 7 is fine. If you are using happstack-hsp, then you will need to > use GHC 6.12, a recent version of GHC from darcs, or wait until GHC 7.0.2 > comes out. > > The Future > ========== > > The current future plan looks like this: > > Happstack 7 > ----------- > > The next major release of Happstack will be Happstack 7. The primary focus > of Happstack 7 will be improving happstack-state (also known as MACID). Big > features include: > > - sharding support > - a rewrite of IxSet based on kdtrees with much better RAM and CPU > performance > - performance testing to show how awesome MACID is > - much better documentation and examples > - better tools for examining and modifying state in running applications > > There are also a bunch of lower-level API improvements planned which should > make it nicer to use happstack-state. > > Happstack 8 > ----------- > > Happstack 8 will finally feature an enumerator-based HTTP backend. This is a > feature we have been hoping to add since January of 2009. > > http://code.google.com/p/happstack/issues/detail?id=29 > > Rather than develop a competing HTTP backend, Happstack will put its efforts > into improving an existing HTTP backend. We currently have our eye on > WAI/warp. However, we will also consider snap and hyena when the time comes. > > It should be noted that the current lazy I/O based backend is not the > relentless nightmare of space leaks that some people might lead you to > believe it is. The current happstack-server can easily handle uploads and > downloads of large or streaming files with out leaks. But, enumerators *are* > nice. > > How You can Help > ================ > > You are encouraged to get involved in Happstack. The easiest way to get > involved is to complain about how horrible Happstack is. If you don't voice > your complaints, then we might not know something things to be fixed. > > If you are looking to make code contributions, please feel free to ask on > #happs or the mailing list. There are tasks that are easy for novices, tasks > that are worthy of a Ph.D, and everything in between. If you want to work, > we can certainly find a way to use your talents! > > There are also plenty of non-coding related tasks including documentation, > graphic design, user surveys, etc. > > You are also encouraged to blog about your Happstack projects! > > Thanks! > - jeremy shaw > > _______________________________________________ > Haskell-Cafe mailing list > Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org > http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe > _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
