IHaskell: A versatile Haskell kernel for Jupyter Notebook

IHaskell is an innovative open-source project hosted on GitHub that serves as a Haskell language kernel for the popular Jupyter Notebook. The project allows users to write Haskell code interactively in a Jupyter environment, contributing to an easier and more interactive learning and programming experience.

Project Overview:

IHaskell is a remarkable project with the primary goal of providing an interactive interface for users to code in Haskell. The project aims to break down the wall between users and Haskell by integrating Haskell with Jupyter notebooks, a widely-used, flexible, and interactive IDE that makes language learning much simpler and fun. IHaskell caters predominantly to data scientists, researchers, students, and anyone interested in analyzing data with Haskell in an interactive environment.

Project Features:

IHaskell boasts an array of exciting features. From rendering the output of an expression to offering interactive controls like sliders and pickers, it harnesses Jupyter's interactive capabilities to improve the Haskell programming experience. It also supports LaTeX and HTML rendering and provides code hinting and code completion features, among others. Each feature aims to make the user's interaction with Haskell both productive and enjoyable. For example, a data scientist could leverage these features to build sophisticated data models with Haskell and analyze them interactively.

Technology Stack:

The project primarily uses Haskell, an advanced, purely functional programming language. The use of Haskell provides high robustness, expressivity, and simplifies many challenging tasks. It integrates Haskell with the Python-based Jupyter ecosystem, thereby allowing Haskell to inherit Jupyter's interactive capabilities. Binder, Docker, and nix are also used to provision the project. Notable Haskell libraries in use include ghc, a state-of-the-art open-source compiler and interactive environment for Haskell, and Cabal, a system for building and packaging Haskell libraries and programs.

Project Structure and Architecture:

IHaskell comprises several modular components, with each taking on a specific portion of the functionality. The principal modules are the IHaskell kernel itself, the IPython test suite, and various IHaskell display packages. These modules integrate seamlessly to provide a unified and smooth user experience. This modular design follows the principles of separation of concerns and modular programming.