View source for How to write a Haskell program

A developers' guide to creating a new Haskell project or program, and working in the Haskell developer ecosystem.

''Note: for learning the Haskell language itself we recommend [http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Tutorials#Introductions_to_Haskell these resources].''

== Recommended tools ==

Almost all new Haskell projects use the following tools.  Each is
intrinsically useful, but using a set of common tools also helps
everyone by increasing productivity, and you're more likely to get
patches.

=== Revision control ===

Use [http://git-scm.com/ git] or [http://darcs.net darcs] unless you have a specific reason not to. Both are lightweight distributed revision control systems (and darcs is written in Haskell). Both have massive market share in the Haskell world.  If you want to encourage contributions from other Haskell hackers then git or darcs are the best. Darcs hosting is available on [http://hub.darcs.net/  hub.darcs.net]. For git, [http://github.com/ github] is very popular.

=== Build system ===

[[Image:Cabal-With-Text-small.png|frame|Built with Cabal]]

Use [http://haskell.org/cabal/ Cabal].
You should read at least the start of section 2 of the [http://www.haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/ Cabal User's Guide].

You should use [http://haskell.org/cabal/download.html cabal-install] as a front-end for installing your Cabal library. Cabal-install provides commands not only for building libraries but also for installing them from, and uploading them to, Hackage. As a bonus, for almost all programs, it's faster than using Setup.hs scripts directly, since no time is wasted compiling the scripts. (This does not apply for programs that use custom Setup.hs scripts, since those need to be compiled even when using cabal-install.)

cabal-install is widely available, as part of the [http://haskell.org/platform Haskell Platform], so you can probably assume your users will have it too.

=== Documentation ===

For libraries, use [http://haskell.org/haddock/ Haddock]. We recommend
using the version of Haddock that ships with the Haskell Platform. Haddock generates [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/base/4.3.1.0/doc/html/Prelude.html nice markup], with links to source.

=== Testing ===

You can use [http://hackage.haskell.org/package/QuickCheck QuickCheck] or [http://www.mail-archive.com/haskell@haskell.org/msg19215.html SmallCheck] to test pure code. To test impure code, use [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/HUnit HUnit]. See [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/hashable/1.1.2.2/hashable.cabal this Cabal file] for an example of how to include tests in your Cabal package.

To get started, try [[Introduction to QuickCheck]].  For a slightly more advanced introduction, [http://blog.codersbase.com/2006/09/simple-unit-testing-in-haskell.html Simple Unit Testing in Haskell] is a blog article about creating a testing framework for QuickCheck using some Template Haskell. For HUnit, see [[HUnit 1.0 User's Guide]]

=== Distribution ===

The standard mechanism for distributing Haskell libraries and
applications is [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/hackage.html Hackage]. Hackage can
host your cabalised tarball releases, and link to any library
dependencies your code has. Users will find and install your packages via "cabal install", and your package will be integrated into Haskell search engines, like [http://www.haskell.org/hoogle/ hoogle]

=== Target Environment ===

If at all possible, depend on libraries that are provided by the [http://haskell.org/platform Haskell Platform], and libraries that in turn build against the Haskell Platform. This set of libraries is designed to be widely available, so your end users will be able to build your software.

== Structure of a simple project ==

The basic structure of a new Haskell project can be adopted from
[http://semantic.org/hnop/ HNop], the minimal Haskell project. It
consists of the following files, for the mythical project "haq".

* Haq.hs    -- the main haskell source file
* haq.cabal -- the cabal build description
* Setup.hs  -- build script itself
* _darcs    -- revision control
* README    -- info
* LICENSE   -- license

Of course, you can elaborate on this, with subdirectories and multiple
modules.  See [[Structure of a Haskell project]] for an example of a larger project's directory structure.

Here is a transcript that shows how you'd create a minimal darcs and cabalised
Haskell project for the cool new Haskell program "haq", build it,
install it and release.

''Note'': The new tool "cabal init" automates all this for you, but you should
understand all the parts even so. 

We will now walk through the creation of the infrastructure for a simple
Haskell executable. Advice for libraries follows after.

=== Create a directory ===

Create somewhere for the source:

<code>
 $ mkdir haq
 $ cd haq
</code>

=== Write some Haskell source ===

Write your program:

<haskell>
$ cat > Haq.hs
--
-- Copyright (c) 2006 Don Stewart - http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~dons/
-- GPL version 2 or later (see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
--
import System.Environment

-- | 'main' runs the main program
main :: IO ()
main = getArgs >>= print . haqify . head

haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s
</haskell>

=== Stick it in version control ===

Place the source under revision control (you may need to enter your e-mail address first, to identify you as maintainer of this source):

<code>
 $ darcs init
 $ darcs add Haq.hs 
 $ darcs record
 addfile ./Haq.hs
 Shall I record this change? (1/?)  [ynWsfqadjkc], or ? for help: y
 hunk ./Haq.hs 1
 +--
 +-- Copyright (c) 2006 Don Stewart - http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~dons/
 +-- GPL version 2 or later (see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
 +--
 +import System.Environment
 +
 +-- | 'main' runs the main program
 +main :: IO ()
 +main = getArgs >>= print . haqify . head
 +
 +haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s
 Shall I record this change? (2/?)  [ynWsfqadjkc], or ? for help: y
 What is the patch name? Import haq source
 Do you want to add a long comment? [yn]n
 Finished recording patch 'Import haq source'
</code>

And we can see that darcs is now running the show:

<code>
 $ ls
 Haq.hs _darcs
</code>

=== Add a build system ===

Create a .cabal file describing how to build your project:

<code>
 $ cat > haq.cabal
 Name:                haq
 Version:             0.0
 Description:         Super cool mega lambdas
 License:             GPL
 License-file:        LICENSE
 Author:              Don Stewart
 Maintainer:          dons@cse.unsw.edu.au
 Build-Type:          Simple
 Cabal-Version:       >=1.2

 Executable haq
   Main-is:           Haq.hs
   Build-Depends:     base >= 3 && < 5
</code>

(If your package uses other packages, e.g. <tt>haskell98</tt>, you'll need to add them to the <tt>Build-Depends:</tt> field as a comma separated list.)
Add a <tt>Setup.hs</tt> that will actually do the building:

<haskell>
$ cat > Setup.hs
import Distribution.Simple
main = defaultMain
</haskell>
Cabal allows either <tt>Setup.hs</tt> or <tt>Setup.lhs</tt>.

Now would also be a good time to add a LICENSE file and a README file. Examples are in the tarball for HNop.

Record your changes:

<code>
 $ darcs add haq.cabal Setup.hs LICENSE README
 $ darcs record --all
 What is the patch name? Add a build system
 Do you want to add a long comment? [yn]n
 Finished recording patch 'Add a build system'
</code>

=== Build your project ===

Now build it! There are two methods of accessing Cabal functionality: through your Setup.hs script or through cabal-install. In most cases, cabal-install is now the preferred method.

Building using cabal-install:

<code>
 $ cabal install --prefix=$HOME --user
</code>

Building using the traditional Setup.hs method:

<code>
 $ runhaskell Setup configure --prefix=$HOME --user
 $ runhaskell Setup build
 $ runhaskell Setup install
</code>

This will install your newly minted haq program in $HOME/bin.

=== Run it ===

And now you can run your cool project:
<code>
 $ haq me
 "Haq! me"
</code>

You can also run it in-place, even if you skip the install phase:
<code>
 $ dist/build/haq/haq you
 "Haq! you"
</code>

=== Build some haddock documentation ===

Generate some API documentation into dist/doc/*

Using cabal install:
<code>
 $ cabal haddock
</code>

Traditional method:
<code>
$ runhaskell Setup haddock
</code>

which generates files in dist/doc/ including:

<code>
$ w3m -dump dist/doc/html/haq/Main.html
 haq Contents Index
 Main

 Synopsis
 main :: IO ()

 Documentation

 main :: IO ()
 main runs the main program

 Produced by Haddock version 0.7
</code>

No output?  Make sure you have actually installed haddock.  It is a separate program, not something that comes with Cabal.  Note that the stylized comment in the source gets picked up by Haddock.

=== (Optional) Improve your code: HLint ===

[http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hlint HLint] can be a valuable tool for improving your coding style, particularly if you're new to Haskell. Let's run it now.

<code>
 $ hlint .
 ./Haq.hs:11:1: Warning: Eta reduce
 Found:
   haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s
 Why not:
   haqify = ("Haq! " ++)
</code>

The existing code will work, but let's follow that suggestion. Open Haq.hs in your favourite editor and change the line:

<haskell>
    where haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s
</haskell>

to:

<haskell>
    where haqify = ("Haq! " ++)
</haskell>

=== Add some automated testing: QuickCheck ===

==== QuickCheck v1 ====

We'll use QuickCheck to specify a simple property of our Haq.hs code. Create a tests module, Tests.hs, with some QuickCheck boilerplate:

<haskell>
$ cat > Tests.hs
import Char
import List
import Test.QuickCheck
import Text.Printf

main  = mapM_ (\(s,a) -> printf "%-25s: " s >> a) tests

instance Arbitrary Char where
    arbitrary     = choose ('\0', '\128')
    coarbitrary c = variant (ord c `rem` 4)
</haskell>

Now let's write a simple property:

<haskell>
$ cat >> Tests.hs 
-- reversing twice a finite list, is the same as identity
prop_reversereverse s = (reverse . reverse) s == id s
    where _ = s :: [Int]

-- and add this to the tests list
tests  = [("reverse.reverse/id", test prop_reversereverse)]
</haskell>

We can now run this test, and have QuickCheck generate the test data:

<code>
 $ runhaskell Tests.hs
 reverse.reverse/id       : OK, passed 100 tests.
</code>

Let's add a test for the 'haqify' function:

<haskell>
-- Dropping the "Haq! " string is the same as identity
prop_haq s = drop (length "Haq! ") (haqify s) == id s
    where haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s

tests  = [("reverse.reverse/id", test prop_reversereverse)
        ,("drop.haq/id",        test prop_haq)]
</haskell>

and let's test that:

<code>
 $ runhaskell Tests.hs
 reverse.reverse/id       : OK, passed 100 tests.
 drop.haq/id              : OK, passed 100 tests.
</code>

Great!

==== QuickCheck v2 ====

If you're using version 2 of QuickCheck, the code in the previous section needs some minor modifications:

<haskell>
$ cat > Tests.hs
import Char
import List
import Test.QuickCheck
import Text.Printf
 
main  = mapM_ (\(s,a) -> printf "%-25s: " s >> a) tests

-- reversing twice a finite list, is the same as identity
prop_reversereverse s = (reverse . reverse) s == id s
    where _ = s :: [Int]

-- Dropping the "Haq! " string is the same as identity
prop_haq s = drop (length "Haq! ") (haqify s) == id s
    where haqify s = "Haq! " ++ s
 
tests  = [("reverse.reverse/id", quickCheck prop_reversereverse)
        ,("drop.haq/id",        quickCheck prop_haq)]
</haskell>

To run the test:

<code>
 $ runhaskell Tests.hs
 reverse.reverse/id       : +++ OK, passed 100 tests.
 drop.haq/id              : +++ OK, passed 100 tests.
</code>

Success!

=== Running the test suite from darcs ===

We can arrange for darcs to run the test suite on every commit that is run with the flag --test:

<code>
 $ darcs setpref test "runhaskell Tests.hs"
 Changing value of test from '' to 'runhaskell Tests.hs'
</code>

will run the full set of QuickChecks.
If your test requires it, you may need to ensure other things are built too -- for example:<code>darcs setpref test "alex Tokens.x;happy Grammar.y;runhaskell Tests.hs"</code>.
You will encounter that this way a darcs patch is also accepted if a QuickCheck test fails.
You have two choices to [http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2007-October/033834.html work around] this:
* Use <hask>quickCheck'</hask> from the package QuickCheck-2 and call <hask>exitWithFailure</hask> if it return <hask>False</hask>.
* Keep the test program as it is, and implement the failure on the shell level:
: <code>runhaskell Tests.hs | tee test.log && if grep Falsifiable test.log >/dev/null; then exit 1; fi</code>

Let's commit a new patch:

<code>
 $ darcs add Tests.hs
 $ darcs record --all --test
 What is the patch name? Add testsuite
 Do you want to add a long comment? [yn]n
 Running test...
 reverse.reverse/id       : OK, passed 100 tests.
 drop.haq/id              : OK, passed 100 tests.
 Test ran successfully.
 Looks like a good patch.
 Finished recording patch 'Add testsuite'
</code>

Excellent: now, patches must pass the test suite before they can be committed provided the --test flag is passed.

=== Tag the stable version, create a tarball, and sell it! ===

Tag the stable version:

<code>
 $ darcs tag
 What is the version name? 0.0
 Finished tagging patch 'TAG 0.0'
</code>

==== Create a tarball ====
You can do this using either Cabal or darcs, or even an explicit <tt>tar</tt> command.

===== Using Cabal =====

Since the code is cabalised, we can create a tarball with cabal-install
directly (you can also use <tt>runhaskell Setup.hs sdist</tt>, but you need <tt>tar</tt> on your system [http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.haskell.cafe/60617/focus=60653]):

<code>
 $ cabal sdist
 Building source dist for haq-0.0...
 Source tarball created: dist/haq-0.0.tar.gz
</code>
This has the advantage that Cabal will do a bit more checking, and
ensure that the tarball has the structure that HackageDB expects. 
Note that it does require the LICENSE file to exist.
It packages up the files needed to build the project; to include other files (such as <tt>Test.hs</tt> in the above example, and our README), we need to add:

<code>
extra-source-files: Tests.hs README
</code>

to the .cabal file to have everything included.

===== Using darcs =====

Alternatively, you can use darcs:
<code>
 $ darcs dist -d haq-0.0
 Created dist as haq-0.0.tar.gz
</code>

And you're all set up!

==== Check that your source package is complete ====

Just to make sure everything works, try building the source package in some temporary directory:
<code>
 $ tar xzf haq-0.0.tar.gz
 $ cd haq-0.0
 $ cabal configure
 $ cabal build
</code>
and for packages containing libraries,
<code>
 $ cabal haddock
</code>

==== Upload your package to Hackage ====

Whichever of the above methods you've used to create your package, you can upload it to the Hackage package collection via a [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/upload.html web interface].
You may wish to use the package checking interface there first, and fix things it warns about, before uploading your package.

=== Summary ===

The following files were created:

    $ ls
    Haq.hs           Tests.hs         dist             haq.cabal
    Setup.hs         _darcs           haq-0.0.tar.gz

== Libraries ==

The process for creating a Haskell library is almost identical. The differences
are as follows, for the hypothetical "ltree" library:

=== Hierarchical source ===

The source should live under a directory path that fits into the
existing [[Hierarchical module names|module layout guide]].
So we would create the following directory structure, for the module
Data.LTree:

    $ mkdir Data
    $ cat > Data/LTree.hs 
    module Data.LTree where

So our Data.LTree module lives in Data/LTree.hs

=== The Cabal file ===

Cabal files for libraries list the publically visible modules, and have
no executable section:

    $ cat > ltree.cabal 
    Name:                ltree
    Version:             0.1
    Description:         Lambda tree implementation
    License:             BSD3
    License-file:        LICENSE
    Author:              Don Stewart
    Maintainer:          dons@cse.unsw.edu.au
    Build-Type:          Simple
    Cabal-Version:       >=1.2
    
    Library
      Build-Depends:     base >= 3 && < 5
      Exposed-modules:   Data.LTree
      ghc-options:       -Wall

We can thus build our library:

    $ cabal configure --prefix=$HOME --user
    $ cabal build    
    Preprocessing library ltree-0.1...
    Building ltree-0.1...
    [1 of 1] Compiling Data.LTree       ( Data/LTree.hs, dist/build/Data/LTree.o )
    /usr/bin/ar: creating dist/build/libHSltree-0.1.a

and our library has been created as a object archive. Now install it:

    $ cabal install
    Installing: /home/dons/lib/ltree-0.1/ghc-6.6 & /home/dons/bin ltree-0.1...
    Registering ltree-0.1...
    Reading package info from ".installed-pkg-config" ... done.
    Saving old package config file... done.
    Writing new package config file... done.

And we're done!
To try it out, first make sure that your working directory is anything but the source directory of your library:

    $ cd ..

And then use your new library from, for example, ghci:

    $ ghci -package ltree
    Prelude> :m + Data.LTree
    Prelude Data.LTree> 

The new library is in scope, and ready to go.

=== More complex build systems ===

For larger projects, you may want to store source trees in subdirectories. This can be done simply by creating a directory -- for example, "src" -- into which you will put your src tree.

To have Cabal find this code, you add the following line to your Cabal
file:

    hs-source-dirs: src

You can also set up Cabal to run configure scripts, among other features. For more information consult the
[http://www.haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/ Cabal user guide].

== Automation ==

A tool to automatically populate a new cabal project is available:

    cabal init

Usage is:

<code>
 $ cabal init
 Package name [default "haq"]? 
 Package version [default "0.1"]? 
 Please choose a license:
    1) GPL
    2) GPL-2
    3) GPL-3
    4) LGPL
    5) LGPL-2.1
    6) LGPL-3
  * 7) BSD3
    8) BSD4
    9) MIT
   10) PublicDomain
   11) AllRightsReserved
   12) OtherLicense
   13) Other (specify)
 Your choice [default "BSD3"]? 
 Author name? Henry Laxen
 Maintainer email? nadine.and.henry@pobox.com
 Project homepage/repo URL? http://somewhere.com/haq/
 Project synopsis? A wonderful little module
 Project category:
    1) Codec
    2) Concurrency
    3) Control
    4) Data
    5) Database
    6) Development
    7) Distribution
    8) Game
    9) Graphics
   10) Language
   11) Math
   12) Network
   13) Sound
   14) System
   15) Testing
   16) Text
   17) Web
   18) Other (specify)
 Your choice? 3
 What does the package build:
    1) Library
    2) Executable
 Your choice? 1
 Generating LICENSE...
 Generating Setup.hs...
 Generating haq.cabal...

 You may want to edit the .cabal file and add a Description field.
</code>

== Licenses ==

Code for the common base library package must be BSD licensed. Otherwise, it
is entirely up to you as the author.
Choose a licence (inspired by [http://www.dina.dk/~abraham/rants/license.html this]).
Check the licences of things you use (both other Haskell packages and C
libraries), since these may impose conditions you must follow.
Use the same licence as related projects, where possible. The Haskell community is
split into 2 camps, roughly: those who release everything under BSD, and
(L)GPLers. Some Haskellers recommend avoiding LGPL, due to cross-module optimisation
issues.  Like many licensing questions, this advice is controversial.  Several Haskell projects
(wxHaskell, HaXml, etc) use the LGPL with an extra permissive clause which gets round the
cross-module optimisation problem.

== Releases ==

It's important to release your code as stable, tagged tarballs. Don't
just [http://jackunrue.blogspot.com/2006/11/don-do-releases.html rely on darcs for distribution].

* '''darcs dist''' generates tarballs directly from a darcs repository

For example:

 $ cd fps
 $ ls       
 Data      LICENSE   README    Setup.hs  TODO      _darcs    cbits dist      fps.cabal tests
 $ darcs dist -d fps-0.8
 Created dist as fps-0.8.tar.gz

You can now just post your fps-0.8.tar.gz

You can also have darcs do the equivalent of 'daily snapshots' for you by using a post-hook.

put the following in _darcs/prefs/defaults:
  apply posthook darcs dist
  apply run-posthook

Advice:
* Tag each release using '''darcs tag'''. For example:

 $ darcs tag 0.8
 Finished tagging patch 'TAG 0.8'

Then people can <tt>darcs pull --partial -t 0.8</tt>, to get just the tagged version (and not the entire history).

== Hosting ==

Hosting for repos is available from the Haskell community server:

    http://community.haskell.org/

A Darcs repository can be published simply by making it available from a
web page.

There is also a (minimal) Github equivalent for Darcs at [http://hub.darcs.net/ hub.darcs.net].

== Web page ==

Create a web page documenting your project! An easy way to do this is to
add a project specific page to [[Haskell|the Haskell wiki]]

== The user experience ==

When developing a new Haskell library, it is important to remember how the user expects to be able to build and use a library.

=== Introductory information and build guide ===

A typical library user expects to:

# Visit [[Haskell|Haskell.org]]
# Find the library/program they are looking for:
## if not found, try mailing list; 
## if it is hidden, try improving the documentation on haskell.org;
## if it does not exist, try contributing code and documentation) 
# Download
# Build and install
# Enjoy

Each of these steps can pose potential road blocks, and code authors can
do a lot to help code users avoid such blocks. Steps 1..2 may be easy enough, and many coders and users are mainly concerned with step 5. Steps 3..4 are the ones that often get in the way. In particular, the
following questions should have clear answers:

* Which is the latest version? 
* What state is it in? 
* What are its aims? 
* Where is the documentation?
* Which is the right version for given OS and Haskell implementation?
* How is it packaged, and what tools are needed to get and unpack it?
* How is it installed, and what tools are needed to install it?
* How do we handle dependencies?
* How do we provide/acquire the knowledge and tool-chains needed?

The best place to answer these questions is a README file,
distributed with the library or application, and often accompanied with
similar text on a more extensive web page.

=== Tutorials ===

Generated haddock documentation is usually not enough to help new
programmers learn how to use a library. You must also provide accompanying examples, and even tutorials about the library.

Please consider providing example code for your library or application. The code should be type-correct and well-commented.

== Program structure ==

Monad transformers are very useful for programming in the large,
encapsulating state, and controlling side effects.  To learn more about this approach, try [http://www.grabmueller.de/martin/www/pub/Transformers.en.html Monad Transformers Step by Step].

== Publicity ==

The best code in the world is meaningless if nobody knows about it. The
process to follow once you've tagged and released your code is:

=== Join the community ===

If you haven't already, join the community. The best way to do this is to [http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Mailing_lists subscribe] to at least haskell-cafe@ and haskell@ mailing lists. Joining the [[IRC_channel|#haskell IRC channel]] is also an excellent idea.

=== Announce your project on haskell@ ===

Most important: announce your project releases to the haskell@haskell.org mailing list. Tag your email subject line with "ANNOUNCE: ...". This ensure it will then make it into the [http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/HWN Haskell Weekly News]. To be doubly sure, you can email the release text to the [[HWN|HWN editor]].

=== Add your code to the public collections ===

* Add your library or application to the [[Libraries and tools]] page, under the relevant category, so people can find it.

* If your release is a Cabal package, add it to the [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/hackage.html Hackage database] (Haskell's CPAN wanna-be).

=== Blog about it ===

Blog about it! Blog about your new code on [http://planet.haskell.org Planet Haskell].
Write about your project in your blog, then email the [http://planet.haskell.org/ Planet Haskell] maintainer (ibid on [[IRC channel|#haskell]]) the RSS feed url for your blog

== Example ==

[http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~dons/blog/2006/12/11#release-a-library-today A complete example] of writing, packaging and releasing a new Haskell library under this process has been documented.

[[Category:Community]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]