I'm talking about the Haskell Platform at the London Haskell Users Group this Thursday.

It is an extended version of the 10-minute talk Haskell: Batteries Included that Don Stewart and I presented at the recent Haskell Symposium.

Abstract:

Some people pick a programming language because it has the best type system, the best facilities for abstraction or perhaps the fastest compiler. Most people however pick a whole programming platform that lets them solve their problem the quickest or best. A programming platform consists of a language, a compiler, and a set of standard libraries and tools. Other popular programming languages have a standard platform that puts together everything you need to get started.

This talk is about the Haskell Platform. We'll cover what the Haskell Platform is and who it is for. We'll also look at the technical infrastructure and the social aspects of how it will be managed.

Not all of the details are set in stone. We need to have a discussion within the Haskell community about how the platform will be managed and extended, especially since it needs buy-in from package maintainers. My hope is to use this talk to kick off that discussion.