Haskell is a combination of cutting-edge research and time-tested technologies. It holds a distinct position between academics and industry. Some of its characteristics, like as garbage collection and native code creation, are found in popular programming languages. Other characteristics, like as purity and lazy evaluation, are only seen in less popular, niche languages. Here are the ten most noteworthy Haskell characteristics, in no particular order.
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- Memory security: In C and C++, manual memory management frequently results in buffer overflows, use-after-free, memory leaks, and other memory-related issues. This creates security flaws (see "Observed Examples" for CWE-416: Use After Free). Because of autonomous memory management, software developed in Haskell is unlikely to display such difficulties. Memory safety is a feature shared by many modern languages, including Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, Rust, and others, and it is critical for developing secure software.
- Garbage removal: Memory safety may be achieved in two ways: garbage collection (the more prevalent method) and static lifespan verification (the Rust way). While garbage collection renders Haskell unsuitable for real-time systems like as computer games, it is less restrictive than lifetime checking, allowing for stronger abstractions and improved development productivity.
- Native programming: Haskell, unlike Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Lua, and other interpreted languages, is compiled ahead of time to native machine code. The compiler (GHC) excels in optimization and producing efficient executables. As a result, Haskell is an excellent candidate for applications requiring high performance, such as high-throughput data processing.
- Types that are fixed: Haskell, like Java, but unlike JavaScript, features a type-checker that checks code during development. This implies that many issues are identified early in the development cycle, before the product reaches consumers or the quality assurance department. In addition, the developer may examine the data model expressed in types to gain a deeper understanding of the business domain.
- Rich people: Unlike in Java or Go, where static types may be a nuisance, Haskell's type system is strong enough to become convenient. Haskell provides an extremely versatile toolset for writing statically typed programs, with support for algebraic data types, parametric polymorphism, class-based (ad-hoc) polymorphism, type families, type equalities, existential quantification, higher-rank polymorphism, kind polymorphism, and runtime type inspection.
- Purity: The Haskell concept is based on pure functions and immutable data. These characteristics have been demonstrated to be critical for designing accurate software. Managing global state, changeable data, and side effects is error-prone, and Haskell provides the programmer with all of the tools necessary to prevent or reduce these sources of complexity.
- Lazinessa: Haskell was designed from the outset to be a lazy language, and lazy evaluation maintains its distinguishing trait to this day. The concept is to postpone processing until the results are required, which results in easier refactoring, the opportunity to build bespoke control structures, and enhanced composability.
- Concurrency: Concurrency is a never-ending source of problems in many languages, although it is very simple in Haskell. Green threads, wonderful libraries like async and stm, and the prevalence of pure functions make creating concurrent applications in Haskell a delight rather than a chore.
- Metaprogramming: Haskell allows you to inspect and generate the abstract syntax tree of a programme. This feature is known as Template Haskell, and it is utilised for compile-time evaluation as well as boilerplate generating automation.
10. Ecosystem: Hackage is a centralised repository of open-source Haskell software, with approximately 14000 packages available. Stackage is a curated collection of package versions that ensures library compatibility, with over 2000 well-maintained packages. It is not unusual to discover that the problem you are attempting to address has already been solved and distributed as an open-source package.
