Dylan Thurston wrote:
Only numeric literals actually use the '==' operator, correct? (As opposed to built-in equality for data constructors and characters.)
I should have been more specific. Not that it affects the point being made, and I didn't want to lose that in the detail. Pattern matching for numeric literals uses whatever (==) has been defined for the type, except, of course for the literals in n+k patterns where (>=) is used. The Character type is treated as a set of data constructors. Data constructors match if they are the same constructor, and fail to match otherwise. This is not the same as equality, where you are free to define any result when comparing values, but it is the same as the equality that would be derived for a type that consisted of a set of nullary constructors. String literals are lists of characters. Consequently, string matching will use constructor matching for the List constructors and for the characters. So, yes, (==) is used when matching most numeric literals, and not used for other literals. --brian