I'm in the process of writing a toy compiler but I'm having some trouble trying to make my datatypes general. For example, using parsec I parse statements as: data Stmt = SIf Test [Stmt] [Stmt] | ... However, when it's time to create a control flow graph it would be nice to represent statements as (the Int's signify the node id's for either case of the if statement): data Stmt = SIf Test Int Int | ... So, in a eureka moment I decided that this should be allowable with the following declaration: data Stmt link = SIf Test link link | ... Ofcourse, the problem is trying to declare the resulting type for parsing: "parse -> Stmt [Stmt [Stmt ....]]". Any hints on whether there is a way to accomplish what I'm trying to do or do I have to bite the bullet and declare two seperate datatypes? I tried being clever and declaring a 'helper' type as "type StmtRec = Stmt [StmtRec]" but to no avail... GHC won't let it slide: "Cycle in type synonym declarations"! Cheers, Michal