HaskellImplementorsWorkshop/2012/Stutterheim

Web browser programming with UHC's JavaScript backend

Atze Dijkstra

The Utrecht Haskell Compiler (UHC) has a JavaScript backend. This backend has been used to experiment with building applications intended to run inside web browsers. In particular we did a port of a small client-server application. Although both backend and client-server applications in itself are not new, the particular combination allowing web browser programming in Haskell is new and interesting because of entering otherwise unfamiliar Haskell territory. We discuss the backend, the JavaScript FFI, the built client-server application, and the aspects of this experiment which went well as the aspects (both in UHC as well as the Haskell ecosystem) which need improvement in order to make Haskell a viable option for web browser programming.