- ghc-steering-committee

Status
by Joachim Breitner 17 Aug '18

17 Aug '18

Hi committee, with the new nominations out of the way, time to stop navel gazing and doing some work! Since the last status update, we * Got two new members. Yay and welcome! * were asked to review these proposals: #149 Replace atomicModifyMutVar# (Shepherd: Simon M) #143 Remove * syntax (Shepherd: Ben) #128 Allow ScopedTypeVariables refer to types (Shepherd: Iavor) #126 Type Applications in Patterns (Shepherd: Iavor) * two reviews were reassigned: #106 Define Kinds Without Promotion (New shepherd: Eric) #35 Lazy unboxed tuples (New shepherd: Vitaly) * got a recommendation from shepherds about: #112 Remove TypeOperators => NoStarIsType "migration" (rec: accept) #149 Replace atomicModifyMutVar# (rec: accept) #111 Linear Types (rec: acceptish) #143 Remove * syntax (rec: accept) #128 Allow ScopedTypeVariables refer to types (rec: accept) #126 Type Applications in Patterns (rec: accept) * decided about the following proposals #99 forall {k} (accept) #112 Remove TypeOperators => NoStarIsType "migration" (accept) #149 Replace atomicModifyMutVar# (accept) #134 Deprecating Exports (accept) #128 Allow ScopedTypeVariables refer to types (accept) #143 Remove * syntax (accept) We currently have to act on the following 11 proposals, which is two less than last round. Lets further get the backlog down! Type applications in patterns https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/126 Shepherd: Iavor Status: Overall positive response, acceptance likely Type annotated quoters https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/125 Shepherd: Manuel Status: Still waiting for recommendation. Provenance-Qualified Package Imports https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/115 Shepherd: Ben Status: Still waiting for recommendation. This is pretty old! Linear types https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/111 Shepherd: Richard Status: acceptance-ish(?) Define Kinds Without Promotion https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/106 Shepherd: Eric Status: Reassigned to Eric, waiting for recommendation. ExtraCommas https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/87 Shepherd: Chris Recommendation: accept Status: Ongoing discussion, met with some reservation. Visible dependent quantification (TL;DR: forall k -> k -> *) https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/81 Shepherd: Roman Leshchinskiy Status: Discussion needs to happen Top-level kinds signatures https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/54 Shepherd: Roman Leshchinskiy Status: Waiting for recommendation. Or-Patterns https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/43 Shepherd: Manuel Recommendation: accept Status: Round 2 discussion ebbed down Lazy unboxed tuples https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/35 Shepherd: Vitaly Status: Reassigned to Vitaly, waiting for recommendation. Bundling patterns with synonyms https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/28 Shepherd: Chris Recommendation: accept Status: Ongoing discussion, met with some resistance. Cheers, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Extra Commas (#87), Recommend: accept
by Christopher Allen 06 Aug '18

06 Aug '18

https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/87 With the provisos mentioned by Simon starting here in mind: https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/87#issuecomment-3855365… I recommend we accept the proposal with the understanding that the final specification or implementation could be handled by GHC's code review process. I also have a concern about the potential interactions with TupleSections. If no objections are raised, it should be assumed that no one opposes this proposal. --- Chris Allen

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Please Review: Define Kinds Without Promotion (#106), New Shepherd: Eric
by Joachim Breitner 04 Aug '18

04 Aug '18

Dear Committee, this is your secretary speaking: Define Kinds Without Promotion, by Iavor, was shepherded by Ryan, and needs to be reassigned https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/106 I propose Eric Seidel as the shepherd. Eric, please reach consensus as described in https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals#committee-process I suggest you make a recommendation, in a new e-mail thread with the proposal number in the subject, about the decision, maybe point out debatable points, and assume that anyone who stays quiet agrees with you. Thanks, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Please Review: Lazy unboxed tuples (#35), New Shepherd: Vitaly
by Joachim Breitner 04 Aug '18

04 Aug '18

Dear Committee, this is your secretary speaking: Lazy unboxed tuples, by Richard, was shepherded by Ryan, and needs to be reassigned https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/35 I propose Vitaly Brailevsky as the shepherd. Vitaly, please reach consensus as described in https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals#committee-process I suggest you make a recommendation, in a new e-mail thread with the proposal number in the subject, about the decision, maybe point out debatable points, and assume that anyone who stays quiet agrees with you. Thanks, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Remove the * kind syntax (#143); Recommendation: accept
by Ben Gamari 04 Aug '18

04 Aug '18

Hi everyone, We are being asked to consider pull request #143. This proposal removes the `*` symbol as a synonym for `Type`, finishing the work started by the new `-XNoStarIsType` extension. This proposal involves a protracted but warranted transition period. In short: 1. `-XNoStarIsType` will be introduced in GHC 8.6 2. Warnings will be introduced in GHC 8.8, increasing in visibility in later releases. 3. `-XStarIsType` will be enabled by default starting 12 releases (roughly 7 years from now) after GHC 8.6. 4. 15 releases (8.5 years from now) after GHC 8.6 `-XNoStarIsType` will be removed. The reason for this breakage is that this change will have wide-spread consequences: in addition to an estimated 25% of Hackage being affected, a generation of written documentation and pedagogical material will need to be revised. While the costs of the change are high, so are the benefits. `*` is an awkward special case in GHC's syntax and is quite hard to search for. Moreover, the `StarIsType` will present a significant hurdle to the future introduction of `DependentHaskell` since `*` may then signify either term-level numeric multiplication or `Type`. For these reasons my recommendation is that we accept the proposal. Cheers, - Ben

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Discussion on "Allow ScopedTypeVariables to refer to types" (#128)
by Iavor Diatchki 04 Aug '18

04 Aug '18

Hello, let's get the discussion going on proposal #128. Summary: this proposal generalizes the behavior of type variables in patterns, specifically the variables that do not refer to an explicitly quantified type parameter. The idea is that such type variables simply introduce a name for their matching type, without placing any restriction on the type. For example, consider the following definition. f (x : [a]) (y : a) = and x This would be accepted and it would have type `[Bool] -> Bool -> Bool`. This proposal is about the meaning of the type signature on `x` which states that it must be a list of something, and `a` will be a name for the type of its elements. In this case, it happens that `a` is actually just an alias for `Bool`. I am strongly in favor of this proposal. As I mentioned on the github discussion, I thought that the feature already worked as in this proposal, and was quite surprised to find out that currently, GHC has restrictions on what `a` could be, and it also complains about "multiple definitions for `a`" in the above example). Thoughts? -Iavor

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Welcome Eric and Vitaly
by Joachim Breitner 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Dear Committee, Eric and Vitaly, I am happy to announce that votes were received, tallied, and we have now not just one, but two new members on the committee! Welcome Eric Seidel and Vitaly Brailevsky. Eric and Vitaly will take the seats of Ryan Newton and Roman Leschinskiy. Ryan leaves immediately, while Roman will wrap up his shepherding duties. We would like to thank Ryan and Roman for their service on the committee. @Eric, Vitaly: Please subscribe to the ghc-steering-committee mailing list at https://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ghc-steering-committee if you have not done so yet, and read through the process outlined at https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals I will reassign Ryan’s proposals for shepherding in a separate mail when I get to it. I’d also like to thank the other 3 candidates. We were very happy with all of them, and encourage you to try again next round! Thanks, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Request for Nominations to the GHC Steering Committee
by Joachim Breitner 22 Jul '18

22 Jul '18

Dear Haskell community, the GHC Steering committee is seeking nominations for a new member. The committee scrutinizes, nitpicks, improves, weights and eventually accepts or rejects proposals that extend or change the language supported by GHC and other (public-facing) aspects of GHC. Our processes are described at https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals which is also the GitHub repository where proposals are proposed. We are looking for a member who has the ability * to understand such language extension proposals, * to find holes and missing corner cases in the specifications, * foresee the interaction with other language features and specifications, * comment constructively and improve the proposals, * judge the cost/benefit ratio and * finally come to a justifiable conclusion. We look for committee members who have some of these properties: * have substantial experience in writing Haskell applications or libraries, which they can use to inform judgements about the utility or otherwise of proposed features, * have made active contributions to the Haskell community, for some time, * have expertise in language design and implementation, in either Haskell or related languages, which they can share with us. The committee’s work requires a small, but non-trivial amount of time, especially when you are assigned a proposal for shepherding. We estimate the workload to be around 2 hours per week, and our process works best if members usually respond to technical emails within 1-2 weeks (within days is even better). Please keep that in mind if your email inbox is already overflowing. The GHC developers themselves are already well represented already. We seek Haskell _users_ more than GHC hackers. There is no shortage of people who are very eager to get fancy new features into the language, both in the committee and the wider community. But each new feature imposes a cost, to implement, to learn, (particularly) through its unexpected interaction with other features. We need to strike a balance, one that encourages innovation (as GHC always has) while still making Haskell attractive for real-world production use and for teaching. We therefore explicitly invite “conservative” members of the community to join the committee. To make a nomination, please send an email to me (as the committee secretary) at mail(a)joachim-breitner.de until July 23th. I will distribute the nominations among the committee, and we will keep the nominations and our deliberations private. We explicitly encourage self-nominations. You can nominate others, but please obtain their explicit consent to do so. (We don’t want to choose someone who turns out to be unable to serve.) On behalf of the committee, Joachim Breitner -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Please Review: Type applications in patterns (#126), Shepherd: Iavor again
by Joachim Breitner 16 Jul '18

16 Jul '18

Dear Committee, this is your secretary speaking: Type applications in patterns, by myself and with help from Richard and Simon PJ, was proposed https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/126 I again propose Iavor as the shepherd. He already has #128 on his plate, and although orthogonal, both touch the same area, both are motivated and explained in more detail in the same paper, so maybe looking at both together is insightful. Iavor, please speak up if you find this is too much and would rather have this assigned to someone else. Iavor, please reach consensus as described in https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals#committee-process I suggest you make a recommendation, in a new e-mail thread with the proposal number in the subject, about the decision, maybe point out debatable points, and assume that anyone who stays quiet agrees with you. Thanks, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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Please Review: Allow ScopedTypeVariables to refer to types (#128), Shepherd: Iavor
by Joachim Breitner 14 Jul '18

14 Jul '18

Dear Committee, this is your secretary speaking: Allow ScopedTypeVariables to refer to types, by myself https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/128 I propose Iavor as the shepherd. He is just too efficient an shepherd, and the only non-chair-member without an open proposal on his plate right now. Iavor, please reach consensus as described in https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals#committee-process I suggest you make a recommendation, in a new e-mail thread with the proposal number in the subject, about the decision, maybe point out debatable points, and assume that anyone who stays quiet agrees with you. Thanks, Joachim -- Joachim Breitner mail(a)joachim-breitner.de http://www.joachim-breitner.de/

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