Dear all,

I struggle to have an opinion on these proposals on whether we should unify Nat/Natural, Symbol/String etc…

But in this particular case, and as I've written in the proposal's thread, I fail to see how the proposed change addresses its motivations. So I'm leaning toward rejection right now.

/Arnaud

On Thu, 19 Jan 2023 at 21:36, Adam Gundry <adam@well-typed.com> wrote:
Thanks for reviving this proposal, Chris. I support acceptance (and am
happy to set aside the alternative of `type Symbol = String`, which is
distinctly less compelling than `type Nat = Natural`).

Adam


On 19/01/2023 16:07, Chris Dornan wrote:
> And I have replied -- anybody with views on how we do this should
> checkout out the discussions at
> https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/562#issuecomment-1397214914 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/562#issuecomment-1397214914>
>
>> On 2023-01-19, at 15:46, Simon Peyton Jones
>> <simon.peytonjones@gmail.com <mailto:simon.peytonjones@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> > Oleg has proposed that we do essentially the same trick Richard
>> proposed to unify Nat and Natural, but with Symbol and String.
>>
>> Well... not quite. I have commented on the proposal
>> https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/562
>> <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/562>
>>
>> Simon
>>
>> On Thu, 19 Jan 2023 at 15:28, Chris Dornan <chris@chrisdornan.com
>> <mailto:chris@chrisdornan.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     While we are at it, here is another proposal that I think should
>>     be straightforward.
>>
>>     Oleg has proposed that we do essentially the same trick Richard
>>     proposed to unify Nat and Natural, but with Symbol and String.
>>
>>     Specifically, he is proposing that we replace @data Symbol@ with
>>     @newtype Symbol = MkSymbol String@. I won't try and encapsulate
>>     any further -- the original is concise and clear.
>>
>>       * Oleg's "Make Symbol a newtype over String" proposal:
>>     https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/symbol-type/proposals/0000-symbol-newtype-string.rst <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/symbol-type/proposals/0000-symbol-newtype-string.rst>
>>       * For comparison, Richard's accepted "Unify Nat and Natural"
>>     proposal:
>>     https://github.com/goldfirere/ghc-proposals/blob/natural/proposals/0000-unify-natural.rst <https://github.com/goldfirere/ghc-proposals/blob/natural/proposals/0000-unify-natural.rst>
>>
>>     I suggest we allow the usual two weeks to speak or forever hold
>>     your peace.
>>
>>     Chris

--
Adam Gundry, Haskell Consultant
Well-Typed LLP, https://www.well-typed.com/

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