On Wed, 1 Feb 2006, Bulat Ziganshin wrote: > Hello John, > > Wednesday, February 01, 2006, 6:48:48 AM, you wrote: > > >> On the other hand, if pattern bindings were strict by default, I bet > >> there would be a lot fewer accidental space leaks. > > JM> I don't think this is true. I think there would just be a whole lot of a > JM> different type of space leak. Lazy by default is more in the spirit of > JM> haskell. > > i had one idea, what is somewhat corresponding to his discussion: > > make a strict Haskell dialect. implement it by translating all > expressions of form "f x" into "f $! x" and then going to the standard > (lazy) haskell translator. the same for data fields - add to all field > definitions "!" in translation process. then add to this strict > Haskell language ability to _explicitly_ specify lazy fields and lazy > evaluation, for example using this "~" sign > > what it will give? ability to use Haskell as powerful strict language, > what is especially interesting for "real-world" programmers. i have > found myself permanently fighting against the lazyness once i starting to > optimize my programs. for the newcomers, it just will reduce learning > path - they don't need to know anything about lazyness > > another interesting application of such a language is to make strict > and lazy versions of data structures just by compiling the same module > in the strict and lazy Haskell modes
I apologize in advance if I say something silly, but wouldn't such a language transformation be a use for Template Haskell? Superficially, it seems like you should be able to do that. _______________________________________________ Haskell-prime mailing list [email protected] http://haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-prime
