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<head><title>Preface</title>
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<!--l. 4--><div class="crosslinks"><p class="noindent">[<a
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href="haskellpa1.html" >next</a>] [<a
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href="haskellli1.html" >prev</a>] [<a
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<h2 class="likechapterHead"><a
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id="x3-2000"></a>Preface</h2>
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<div class="quote">
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<p class="noindent"> “<span
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class="ptmri7t-">Some half dozen persons have written technically on combinatory logic, and most of these,</span>
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<span
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class="ptmri7t-">including ourselves, have published something erroneous. Since some of our fellow sinners are</span>
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<span
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class="ptmri7t-">among the most careful and competent logicians on the contemporary scene, we regard</span>
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<span
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class="ptmri7t-">this as evidence that the subject is refractory. Thus fullness of exposition is necessary for</span>
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<span
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class="ptmri7t-">accuracy; and excessive condensation would be false economy here, even more than it is</span>
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<span
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class="ptmri7t-">ordinarily.</span>”
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<div class="flushright"
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>
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<p class="noindent">
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Haskell B. Curry and Robert Feys<br />
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in the Preface to <span
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class="ptmri7t-">Combinatory Logic </span><span class="cite">[<a
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href="haskellli3.html#Xcurry&feys:book">3</a>]</span>, May 31, 1956</div>
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</div>
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<p class="noindent"> In September of 1987 a meeting was held at the conference on Functional Programming Languages and Computer
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Architecture (FPCA ’87) in Portland, Oregon, to discuss an unfortunate situation in the functional programming
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community: there had come into being more than a dozen non-strict, purely functional programming languages, all
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similar in expressive power and semantic underpinnings. There was a strong consensus at this meeting
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that more widespread use of this class of functional languages<a
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id="dx3-2001"></a> was being hampered by the lack of a
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common language. It was decided that a committee should be formed to design such a language, providing
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faster communication of new ideas, a stable foundation for real applications development, and a vehicle
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through which others would be encouraged to use functional languages. This document describes the
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result of that (and subsequent) committee’s efforts: a purely functional programming language called
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Haskell, <a
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id="dx3-2002"></a>named after the logician Haskell B. Curry<a
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id="dx3-2003"></a> whose work provides the logical basis for much of
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ours.
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<h3 class="likesectionHead"><a
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id="x3-3000"></a>Goals</h3>
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<p class="noindent"> The committee’s primary goal was to design a language that satisfied these constraints:
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<ol class="enumerate1" >
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<li
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class="enumerate" id="x3-3002x1">It should be suitable for teaching, research, and applications, including building large systems.
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</li>
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<li
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class="enumerate" id="x3-3004x2">It should be completely described via the publication of a formal syntax and semantics.
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</li>
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<li
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class="enumerate" id="x3-3006x3">It should be freely available. Anyone should be permitted to implement the language and distribute it
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to whomever they please.
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</li>
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<li
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class="enumerate" id="x3-3008x4">It should be based on ideas that enjoy a wide consensus.
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</li>
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<li
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class="enumerate" id="x3-3010x5">It should reduce unnecessary diversity in functional programming languages.</li></ol>
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<p class="noindent">
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<h3 class="likesectionHead"><a
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id="x3-4000"></a>Haskell 2010: language and libraries</h3>
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<p class="noindent"> The committee intended that Haskell would serve as a basis for future research in language design, and hoped that
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extensions or variants of the language would appear, incorporating experimental features.
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<p class="noindent"> Haskell has indeed evolved continuously since its original publication. By the middle of 1997, there
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had been five versions of the language design (from Haskell 1.0 – 1.4). At the 1997 Haskell Workshop
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in Amsterdam, it was decided that a stable variant of Haskell was needed; this became “Haskell 98”
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and was published in February 1999. The fixing of minor bugs led to the <span
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class="ptmri7t-">Revised </span>Haskell 98 Report in
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2002.
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<p class="noindent"> At the 2005 Haskell Workshop, the consensus was that so many extensions to the official language were widely used
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(and supported by multiple implementations), that it was worthwhile to define another iteration of the language
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standard, essentially to codify (and legitimise) the status quo.
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<p class="noindent"> The Haskell Prime effort was thus conceived as a relatively conservative extension of Haskell 98, taking on board
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new features only where they were well understood and widely agreed upon. It too was intended to be a
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“stable” language, yet reflecting the considerable progress in research on language design in recent
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years.
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<p class="noindent"> After several years exploring the design space, it was decided that a single monolithic revision of the
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language was too large a task, and the best way to make progress was to evolve the language in small
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incremental steps, each revision integrating only a small number of well-understood extensions and changes.
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Haskell 2010 is the first revision to be created in this way, and new revisions are expected once per year.
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<p class="noindent">
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<h3 class="likesectionHead"><a
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id="x3-5000"></a>Extensions to Haskell 98</h3>
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<p class="noindent"> The most significant language changes in Haskell 2010 relative to Haskell 98 are listed here.
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<p class="noindent"> New language features:
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<ul class="itemize1">
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<li class="itemize">A Foreign Function Interface (FFI).
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Hierarchical module names, e.g. <span
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class="pcrr7t-">Data.Bool</span>.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Pattern guards.</li></ul>
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<p class="noindent"> Removed language features:
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<ul class="itemize1">
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<li class="itemize">The <span
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class="cmr-10">(</span><span
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class="cmmi-10">n </span><span
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class="cmr-10">+ </span><span
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class="cmmi-10">k</span><span
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class="cmr-10">) </span>pattern syntax.</li></ul>
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<p class="noindent">
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<h3 class="likesectionHead"><a
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id="x3-6000"></a>Haskell Resources</h3>
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<a
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id="x3-6000doc"></a>
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<p class="noindent"> The Haskell web site <a
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href="http://haskell.org" class="url" ><span
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class="pcrr7t-">http://haskell.org</span></a> gives access to many useful resources, including:
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<ul class="itemize1">
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<li class="itemize">Online versions of the language and library definitions.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Tutorial material on Haskell.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Details of the Haskell mailing list.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Implementations of Haskell.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Contributed Haskell tools and libraries.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">Applications of Haskell.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">User-contributed wiki pages.
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</li>
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<li class="itemize">News and events in the Haskell community.</li></ul>
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<p class="noindent"> You are welcome to comment on, suggest improvements to, and criticise the language or its presentation in the
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report, via the Haskell mailing list, or the Haskell wiki.
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<p class="noindent">
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<h3 class="likesectionHead"><a
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id="x3-7000"></a>Building the language</h3>
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<p class="noindent"> Haskell was created, and continues to be sustained, by an active community of researchers and application
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programmers. Those who served on the Language and Library committees, in particular, devoted a
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huge amount of time and energy to the language. Here they are, with their affiliation(s) for the relevant
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period:
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<div class="center"
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>
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<p class="noindent">
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<p class="noindent"> Arvind (MIT)<br />
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Lennart Augustsson (Chalmers University)<br />
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Dave Barton (Mitre Corp)<br />
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Brian Boutel (Victoria University of Wellington)<br />
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Warren Burton (Simon Fraser University)<br />
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Manuel M T Chakravarty (University of New South Wales)<br />
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Duncan Coutts (Well-Typed LLP)<br />
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Jon Fairbairn (University of Cambridge)<br />
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Joseph Fasel (Los Alamos National Laboratory)<br />
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John Goerzen<br />
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Andy Gordon (University of Cambridge)<br />
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Maria Guzman (Yale University)<br />
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Kevin Hammond [editor] (University of Glasgow)<br />
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Bastiaan Heeren (Utrecht University)<br />
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Ralf Hinze (University of Bonn)<br />
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Paul Hudak [editor] (Yale University)<br />
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John Hughes [editor] (University of Glasgow; Chalmers University)<br />
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Thomas Johnsson (Chalmers University)<br />
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Isaac Jones (Galois, inc.)<br />
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Mark Jones (Yale University, University of Nottingham, Oregon Graduate Institute)<br />
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Dick Kieburtz (Oregon Graduate Institute)<br />
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John Launchbury (University of Glasgow; Oregon Graduate Institute; Galois, inc.)<br />
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Andres L<>h (Utrecht University)<br />
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Ian Lynagh (Well-Typed LLP)<br />
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Simon Marlow [editor] (Microsoft Research)<br />
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John Meacham<br />
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Erik Meijer (Utrecht University)<br />
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Ravi Nanavati (Bluespec, inc.)<br />
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Rishiyur Nikhil (MIT)<br />
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Henrik Nilsson (University of Nottingham)<br />
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Ross Paterson (City University, London)<br />
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John Peterson [editor] (Yale University)<br />
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Simon Peyton Jones [editor] (University of Glasgow; Microsoft Research Ltd)<br />
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Mike Reeve (Imperial College)<br />
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Alastair Reid (University of Glasgow)<br />
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Colin Runciman (University of York)<br />
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Don Stewart (Galois, inc.)<br />
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Martin Sulzmann (Informatik Consulting Systems AG)<br />
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Audrey Tang<br />
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Simon Thompson (University of Kent)<br />
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Philip Wadler [editor] (University of Glasgow)<br />
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Malcolm Wallace (University of York)<br />
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Stephanie Weirich (University of Pennsylvania)<br />
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David Wise (Indiana University)<br />
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Jonathan Young (Yale University)</div>
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<p class="noindent"> Those marked [editor] served as the co-ordinating editor for one or more revisions of the language.
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<p class="noindent"> In addition, dozens of other people made helpful contributions, some small but many substantial. They are as
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follows: Hans Aberg, Kris Aerts, Sten Anderson, Richard Bird, Tom Blenko, Stephen Blott, Duke Briscoe, Paul
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Callaghan, Magnus Carlsson, Mark Carroll, Franklin Chen, Olaf Chitil, Chris Clack, Guy Cousineau, Tony Davie,
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Craig Dickson, Chris Dornan, Laura Dutton, Chris Fasel, Pat Fasel, Sigbjorn Finne, Michael Fryers, Peter Gammie,
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Andy Gill, Mike Gunter, Cordy Hall, Mark Hall, Thomas Hallgren, Matt Harden, Klemens Hemm,
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Fergus Henderson, Dean Herington, Bob Hiromoto, Nic Holt, Ian Holyer, Randy Hudson, Alexander
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Jacobson, Patrik Jansson, Robert Jeschofnik, Orjan Johansen, Simon B. Jones, Stef Joosten, Mike Joy,
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Wolfram Kahl, Stefan Kahrs, Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Jerzy Karczmarczuk, Kent Karlsson, Martin D.
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Kealey, Richard Kelsey, Siau-Cheng Khoo, Amir Kishon, Feliks Kluzniak, Jan Kort, Marcin Kowalczyk,
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Jose Labra, Jeff Lewis, Mark Lillibridge, Bjorn Lisper, Sandra Loosemore, Pablo Lopez, Olaf Lubeck,
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Christian Maeder, Ketil Malde, Michael Marte, Jim Mattson, John Meacham, Sergey Mechveliani,
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Gary Memovich, Randy Michelsen, Rick Mohr, Andy Moran, Graeme Moss, Arthur Norman, Nick
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North, Chris Okasaki, Bjarte M. <20>stvold, Paul Otto, Sven Panne, Dave Parrott, Larne Pekowsky, Rinus
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Plasmeijer, Ian Poole, Stephen Price, John Robson, Andreas Rossberg, George Russell, Patrick Sansom,
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Michael Schneider, Felix Schroeter, Julian Seward, Nimish Shah, Christian Sievers, Libor Skarvada, Jan
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Skibinski, Lauren Smith, Raman Sundaresh, Josef Svenningsson, Ken Takusagawa, Wolfgang Thaller,
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Satish Thatte, Tom Thomson, Tommy Thorn, Dylan Thurston, Mike Thyer, Mark Tullsen, David Tweed,
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Pradeep Varma, Keith Wansbrough, Tony Warnock, Michael Webber, Carl Witty, Stuart Wray, and Bonnie
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Yantis.
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<p class="noindent"> Finally, aside from the important foundational work laid by Church, Rosser, Curry, and others on the lambda
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calculus, it is right to acknowledge the influence of many noteworthy programming languages developed over the
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years. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of many ideas, the following languages were particularly
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influential: Lisp (and its modern-day incarnations Common Lisp and Scheme); Landin’s ISWIM; APL; Backus’s FP
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<span class="cite">[<a
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href="haskellli3.html#Xback78">1</a>]</span>; ML and Standard ML; Hope and Hope<sup><span
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class="cmr-7">+</span></sup>; Clean; Id; Gofer; Sisal; and Turner’s series of languages culminating in
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Miranda<span class="footnote-mark"><a
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href="haskell4.html#fn1x0"><sup class="textsuperscript">1</sup></a></span><a
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id="x3-7001f1"></a> .
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Without these forerunners Haskell would not have been possible.
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<p class="noindent"> Simon Marlow <br
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class="newline" />Cambridge, April 2010
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<!--l. 444--><div class="crosslinks"><p class="noindent">[<a
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