Comparing generic programming libraries

Abstract

There are numerous approaches to generic programming in Haskell. Until now there hasn’t emerged a clear winner. The time is right to join all the scattered effort and to converge into one common generic programming library. This master’s thesis takes the first step in that process and develops a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate and compare the known generic programming libraries in Haskell. Besides the criteria, a set of test functions has been developed to test whether a generic programming library satisfies a particular criterion. A first preliminary evaluation of a few libraries is conducted. This master’s thesis paves the way for the design of a common generic programming library in Haskell.