Hi,<br><br>This may have been asked before, sorry if so.&nbsp; I&#39;ve wondered where the convention of pattern matching a list to (x:xs) came from?&nbsp; I&#39;ve read a couple of old papers recently which let me believe it may have started back in the &#39;70s with Miranda and its ilk.
<br><br>Does anyone know why (x:xs)?&nbsp; Is xs meant to be a synonym for &#39;excess&#39;?<br><br>Yours curiously,<br>Toby.<br><br>