namekuseijin
Point is: >>= . $ : ! `` and meaningful whitespace are all nice shortcuts, but also hairy confusing...
As somebody pointed out, these are rather idiomatic, and only confusing to beginners. (I'm not sure what you refer to with whitespace, some think layout makes code difficult to write, but I don't think it hurts legibility? If you refer to extension that makes 'x?y' and 'x ? y' mean different things, then I agree: that way lies madness.) I agree it's usually better to use real names, but one problem with many operators (and Haskell functions in general) is their extreme generality. For instance, the >>= cominator is usually pronounced 'bind'. Does this really help? exp1 >>= exp2 vs exp1 `bind` exp2 or even bind exp1 exp2 In some cases where names are used, it just increases confusion, e.g. the Monoid function 'mappend' is nice for concatenating two lists, but a rather odd name for mulitplying two integers. -k -- If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants