Are you using -auto, or -auto-all? Because it makes a difference to the generated core, and the extent to which inlining takes place. I've noticed that -auto permits more inlining than -auto-all, so try -auto
-auto doesn't generate any meaningfull profiling info for me
if you can. Also, follow the advice in the GHC manual, and only export the functions you need to. This will aid both the inliner and specialiser enormously.
cool, this actually helped quite a bit, now only 7.5 times slower :)
As for reading core (well, actually simplifier output; core has less "punctuation"), these links might help:
4.16.3. How to read Core syntax http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/users_guide/options-debugging.ht...
(and the Encoding module has the actual rules for the Unique names) http://darcs.haskell.org/ghc/compiler/utils/Encoding.hs
6.2. Faster: producing a program that runs quicker http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/users_guide/faster.html (see "How do I find out a function's strictness?")
thanks for the tip, ill take a look at those.