#8779: Exhaustiveness checks for pattern synonyms -------------------------------------------+------------------------------- Reporter: nomeata | Owner: Type: feature request | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Component: Compiler (Type checker) | Version: 7.6.3 Keywords: | Operating System: Architecture: Unknown/Multiple | Unknown/Multiple Difficulty: Unknown | Type of failure: Blocked By: | None/Unknown Related Tickets: | Test Case: | Blocking: -------------------------------------------+------------------------------- Pattern synonyms are great, as they decouple interface from implementation. Especially if #8581 is also implemented, it should be possible to change a type completely while retaining the existing interface. Exciting! Another missing piece is exhaustiveness checks. Given this pattern {{{ initLast [] = Nothing initLast xs = Just (init xs, last xs) pattern xs ::: x <- (initLast -> Just (xs,x)) }}} we want the compiler to tell the programmer that {{{ f [] = ... f (xs ::: x) = ... }}} is complete, while {{{ g (xs ::: x) = ... }}} is not. With view pattern directly, this is impossible. But the programmer did not write view patterns! So here is what I think might work well, inspired by the new `MINIMAL` pragma: We add a new pragma `COMPLETE_PATTERNS` (any ideas for a shorter name). The syntax is essentially the same as for `MINIMAL`, i.e. a boolean formula, with constructors and pattern synonyms as atoms. In this case. {{{ {-# COMPLETE_PATTERNS [] && (:::) #-} }}} Multiple pragmas are obviously combined with `||`, and there is an implicit `{-# COMPLETE_PATTERNS [] && (:) #-}` listing all real data constructors. When checking for exhaustiveness, this would be done before unfolding view patterns, and for `g` above we get a warning that `[]` is not matched. Again, the implementation is very much analogous to `MINIMAL`. Clearly, a library author can mess up and give wrong `COMPLETE_PATTERNS` pragmas. I think that is ok (like with `MINIMAL`), and generally an improvement. -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/8779 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler