Indiegogo is committed to accessibility. If you have difficulty using our site, please contact support@indiegogo.com for assistance or view our accessibility notice by clicking here

This campaign is closed

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Help fund a freely available, accessible book covering Haskell web development in detail.

You may also be interested in

Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Haskell Web Development: A Freely Available Book

Help fund a freely available, accessible book covering Haskell web development in detail.

Help fund a freely available, accessible book covering Haskell web development in detail.

Help fund a freely available, accessible book covering Haskell web development in detail.

Help fund a freely available, accessible book covering Haskell web development in detail.

Allele Dev
Allele Dev
Allele Dev
Allele Dev
1 Campaign |
Austin, United States
$3,518 USD 98 backers
17% of $20,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Haskell Web Development Book

Update 4 (Nov. 28): we're down to the final stretch! I've added one new perk (Digital Tutor) and I've greatly improved the workshop offering (2-days -> 5-days, same price). I'll be writing a detailed overview of the workshops soon, to better explain what that looks like for interested supporters.

I'll be working actively this coming week to communicate more broadly and help make this happen. Thanks so much to everyone who has funded this effort so far!

Update 3 (Nov. 05): realizing that I perks are immutable once received, I can't request a shipping address on the existing Full Sponsor perk. If you'd like to receive a print copy of the book along with the benefits of being a Full Sponsor, I've created a new perk that does exactly that. Thanks for all your support!

Update 2 (Nov. 05): clarification - all Full Sponsor tier supporters will receive 1 print copy of the book.

Update 1 (Nov. 02): by popular demand, shipping for print copies is now available internationally!

Hi! My name is Allele Dev. I want to write a book that teaches Haskell for web development. It's my goal to provide a freely available text that builds on existing Haskell texts like:

- with a focus on practical backend Haskell. I will expand on those books and provide more coverage on topics like:

  • Modern Haskell project, build, and dependency management
  • Library evaluation and selection: routing, JSON, storage, and more
  • Data modeling with types: connecting logic to storage and views
  • Testing: property-based, spec-based, doc-tests, and ad-hoc
  • Benchmarking: end-to-end and component-based
  • Profiling
  • Metrics collection, logging, and error-handling

I've worked in Haskell web development for over a year now, in Haskell for three years, and in web development in general for three years. I'm comfortable writing on technical subjects, as well as writing code. I've taught Haskell at every company I've been employed at, and I've hosted two workshops teaching Haskell this year:

This book will be a gift from me to everyone, and it is exactly what I want to be working on. Help me make it happen!

What I Need & What You Get

I want to work full-time on this book for 3 months. $20,000 covers my cost of living for that long.

For this much support, I guarantee that the following will be completed within 3 months. This is the core of the project:

  • Source code (BSD-3 licensed) freely available with guaranteed reproducible builds via stack
  • Source for book chapters available under CC-BY-4.0 license
  • Instructions to build PDF/ePUB using pandoc
  • Exercises for each chapter
  • Solutions linked separately (spoiler-free!) for all exercises
  • Explanations for given solutions
  • Public issue tracker for typos/clarifications/etc.
  • Support for 3 months after the project for addressing issues

The book will always be freely available.

Here is a preliminary outline of the book chapters:

Testing will be a focus throughout. After being introduced in chapter 4, tests will be used along with code snippets when introducing new ideas. This will develop a coding style that makes effective use of types where possible, yet continues to validate assumptions during development.

Each chapter will also give some coverage to relevant, alternative libraries. There's many ways to do things in Haskell, and I intend to  provide a sampling of that variety.


Perks

Several perks are being offered in the process of writing this book. I plan to begin servicing them as soon as the funding goal is reached. I will dedicate 30 hours per month towards perk fulfillment and 120-140 hours per month towards book writing.

Some perks allow you to pre-purchase a print version of the book. Currently, I plan to use Amazon CreateSpace publishing services for generating print copies of the book. These will be delivered at the end of the 3-month writing period and will contain:

  • table of contents
  • CC-BY 4.0 license text
  • core content, including relevant in-line code snippets
  • exercises
  • select solutions
  • index

Stretch goal content will be released progressively thereafter in digital-only form.

For now, delivery of the print copies of the books is limited to the USA. I will investigate international shipping options and determine how to provide this perk for international backers.

For all perks, the following terms apply:

  • I refuse to promote slurs or bigoted content. This applies especially to tweets and sponsor-style perks.

Underfund Goals

If I do not meet the goals, here's what can be expected:



Stretch Goals

If I do meet the minimum goal, there's a lot more I can write about to make the coverage more comprehensive! In particular, I can add chapters on:

  • Frontend development: PureScript, Elm, GHCJS, Om, etc.
  • Haskell HTTP API Clients
  • Foreign Function Interface: C, Rust, C++
  • Other serialization: XML, HTML, etc.
  • More abstraction and type techniques for safer code
  • Performance tuning
  • Advanced authentication/authorization
  • Interfacing with other systems
  • Additional storage engines: document stores, file system, etc.
  • Caching
  • Data streaming
If I make it to the minimum funding point, I will announce a poll that allows funders to choose in what order these will be addressed. You're welcome to suggest additional topics of interest.

For every additional $3000, I will dedicate half a month towards providing coverage on one of these topics in the order determined by poll votes.


Risks & Challenges

The primary risk is that I won't be able to write the core of the book in three months.

In the case that I don't complete the primary content in three months for whatever reason, here's the contingency plan:
  • Dedicate a quarter of my time each month towards completing the book
  • Seek additional funding via Patreon to cover my living costs

Content will be published while the book is in development, so you'll be able to track progress!

Another potential risk: what if breaking changes appear in the Haskell web development ecosystem? Here's a few possibilities and how I plan to deal with them:

  • New compiler, GHC 8.0: book targets GHC 7.10 and ensures builds via stack
  • Library changes will be dealt with similarly


Project Timeline

  • November 2015: Campaign
  • December 2015: book website, first 3 chapters
  • January 2016: next 4 chapters
  • February 2016: remaining core chapters
  • March 2016: print copies ship, honoring perks, stretch goal writing
  • April 2016: honoring remaining perks, stretch goal writing
  • 2016: stretch goal writing  


Other Ways You Can Help

Let others know I'm working on this! Tweet about the campaign. Let me know what you think.
Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ
Need more information
Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.

Choose your Perk

Thank You!

$1 USD
You're helping me make this book happen. You have my appreciation. Thanks so much!
4 claimed

Tweet

$5 USD
I will send a tweet thanking you personally!
6 out of 1000 of claimed

Repository Sponsor

$10 USD
I will include your name and a link to your works in a SPONSORS.md file in the book's source repository.
39 out of 1000 of claimed

Print Copy

$40 USD
You will receive a print copy of the book when the core content is completed.
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
19 out of 500 of claimed
Ships to United States of America

Print Copy (International)

$40 USD
You will receive a print copy of the book when the core content is completed.
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
9 out of 250 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Print Copy: Friends Edition

$60 USD
You will receive two print copies of the book when the core content is completed. Work through it with a friend!
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
4 out of 250 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Full Sponsor

$100 USD
You will be listed on the book's website along with a 100x100 logo linking to your works. You will also be listed in a SPONSORS.md file in the books repository.
6 out of 50 of claimed

Full Sponsor + Print Copy

$110 USD
A combination of the full sponsor and print copy perks. Have your works promoted and have a print copy of the book, as well!
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
0 out of 50 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Print Copy: Team Edition

$150 USD
Receive five print copies. Start a study group and have some fun!
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
1 out of 50 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Print Copy: Company Edition

$250 USD
You will receive 10 printed copies. Great for on-boarding a growing team at your company.
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
0 out of 20 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Planned Video Chat

$250 USD
I'll organize a 30 minute video chat with you and up to two others. This includes corresponding via email/chat before hand to figure out what you'd like to talk about.
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
0 out of 10 of claimed

Month of Digital Tutoring

$1,000 USD
For 45 minutes a day, for 20 business days, I will tutor you (and up to 3 more friends/colleagues) on Haskell-related subjects of your choosing. This also includes 1 print copy of the book. The tutoring will take place over video chat (G+ hangouts or Citrix Gotomeeting) and will involve screen-sharing. There will be take home exercises. The sessions need not be held consecutively. This is 20 business days to use as you need. I'll help schedule the sessions.
Estimated Shipping
April 2016
0 out of 8 of claimed

5-Day Haskell Workshop (USA)

$5,000 USD
I'll fly out to meet you and your development team, and host a five-day-long (6 hours per day) Haskell web development workshop! It will cover the core content of the book by default, but I will coordinate with you to tailor the workshop to suit your team. In addition, I will bring up to 10 print copies of the book.
Estimated Shipping
April 2016
0 out of 4 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

5-Day Haskell Workshop (Int)

$6,500 USD
Identical reward to the USA workshop perk, but involving travel outside of the USA.
Estimated Shipping
April 2016
0 out of 2 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

You may also be interested in

Up Caret