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Why new sectors are entering the realm of Haskell Functional programming

 

25th March - Valencia.

Whilst functional programming is not new, its use has often been associated with financial, medical and biotech sectors because of its close mathematical functioning power and ability to handle large data usage.  But as digital transformation is quickly engulfing other mainstream sectors so the need to handle and analyse larger quantities of data becomes apparent.

Sectors such as Energy, Automotive and IoT are now fast becoming users of functional programming and applications become even more useful.

As a result, Functional programming languages such as Haskell, which were fast becoming obsolete, is now growing significantly in these sectors and engineers who have these skills are in hot demand. Its Modular design allows for small modules that can be coded quickly and are more likely to be able to be reused, which contributes to faster program development. Also the modules can be tested individually, separately, which can reduce the time spent on testing and debugging.

Haskell has become the paradigm of modern functional languages, distinguished by “features such as higher-order functions, type inference, lazy evaluation and user-defined datatypes.”

Languages like Haskell give you a lot more at a much higher level, so you get more productivity, you can express more complex algorithms, you can program and debug at the “design” level, and you get a lot more help from the type system. Haskell is close to its mathematical roots, because clients care about “high assurance” software which is about giving solid (formal or semi-formal) evidence that your product does what it should do. The more functionality provided, the more difficult this gets. 

Haskell’s purely functional nature makes it a perfect tool for parallel computing in data mining, science and engineering, and advanced graphics. For smaller and simpler tasks like mobile application development, the benefits are almost unnoticeable. However, for more complex data structures, it allows the processing of large computations simultaneously, which is much faster. 

Use in data intense, real-time and secure needs

As already determined, Haskell comes in handy for traditionally data-intensive industries such as finance, medicine, and biotech. The expressive type system and abstractions simplify your big data infrastructure and make the code reusable. But as more and more sectors become data heavy and require more analysis eg IoT, automotive and energy industries, so Haskell becomes more attractive to use. This language provides better protection against information security vulnerabilities and supports business functions even at high peak load. 

Popular social networks use Haskell for internal R&D projects. Facebook applies it to fight spam. Haskell lets these corporations provide uninterrupted service to millions of users. 

Automotive, Energy , IoT, 5G and edge computing

Companies such as Eaton, a manufacturer of electrical and hydraulic equipment as well as components for aviation and automotive centres use Haskell for day to day tasks such as scripting, hardware simulation and remote control tools for vehicle systems. Even Tesla uses Haskell for internal software tools.

In the energy sector transitioning to a decarbonised grid will require data collection and advanced analytics that can manage large amounts of intermittent energy, give electricity to and from EVs, efficiently create hydrogen from renewable energy and build a T& D infrastructure where digital sensors collect data and computers analyse it and make operational decisions. For companies like Advanced Digital Technology, in 2022 and beyond, they predict the grid will be controlled and operated by artificial intelligence and machine-to-machine learning are using Haskell for management as more data, faster networks, and more processing speed will be needed to  augment human decisions and provide the capabilities needed to create the grid of the future.

IoT applications are often developed in programming languages with low-level abstractions, where a seemingly innocent mistake might lead to severe security vulnerabilities. Current IoT development tools make it hard to identify these vulnerabilities as they do not provide end-to-end guarantees about how data flows within and between appliances. Functional programming in Haskell with Haski enables developers to write programs that generate C code without falling into many of C’s pitfalls therefore securing code. Now new functional programming languages based on Haskell, such as Hamler are empowering industries to build the next generation of scalable, reliable, realtime applications, especially for 5G, IoT and edge computing.

As more and more companies need to harness large data analysis with their tools so Haskell will be required skills in development. As there is a global shortage of engineers working in this area on specialist sectors so getting the right match for specific projects become a big problem. It requires experts in the market such as CIS Electronic Engineering to find the right people for each placement. With over 20 years’ experience in fulfilling embedded engineering contracts CIS are the first to look after needs in Haskell expertise. Make sure your next project is covered, just call CIS on +34 963 943 500 or send a message to info@cis-ee.com