#15189: Avoid word "transformer" in the documentation of ST -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Reporter: ulysses4ever | Owner: (none) Type: feature | Status: new request | Priority: normal | Milestone: 8.6.1 Component: Documentation | Version: 8.2.2 Keywords: | Operating System: Unknown/Multiple Architecture: | Type of failure: None/Unknown Unknown/Multiple | Test Case: | Blocked By: Blocking: | Related Tickets: Differential Rev(s): | Wiki Page: -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- I'm unhappy about the current wording in the documentation of the ST module in base. Let me explain why. Some time ago, as a novice, I struggled to get the difference between three monad-related concepts: 1. The State monad. 2. The StateT monad transformer. 3. The ST monad. Current [http://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.11.1.0/docs/Control- Monad-ST.html documentation for ST] says that "ST" stands for state transformer (see everywhere except for the introduction paragraph). While this follows original 1994 paper "Lazy Functional State Threads", I find this confusing after the adoption of term "(monad) transformer" due to 1995 paper "Functional Programming with Overloading and Higher-Order Polymorphism". Note that ST paper predates MT one. At the same time, the 1994 paper itself (in the title) and some current tutorials, [https://wiki.haskell.org/Monad/ST like the one at HaskelWiki], use the word "thread" to describe what's going on, avoiding discussion of spelling of ST. As the bottom line, I think, it would be helpful, especially for a novice, to avoid the word "transformer" in the documentation of ST module. -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/15189 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler