Edward Kmett wrote:
My experience with them is pretty close to Tikhon's here, so I'm pretty much neutral on whether we go ahead and do this. Idiom brackets seem to have some strident supporters, I just have never personally had a case where I worked through what the idiom bracket version was and found the result appreciably clearer. When you need to mix in joins and regular application it gets quite messy.
I agree. I've written quite a lot of applicative code (very) long before it was even called applicative, and I never found it particularly burdensome to be explicit. On the other hand, I'd say being able to easily mix regular application and join is essential.
Do we still need idiom brackets if we have ApplicativeDo?
Wasn't aware of this proposal, but I must say it does look rather verbose compared to the explicit version, so nothing gained in that sense, and, more importantly, it obscures the key point of applicative: that arguments *cannot* depend on each other. So from that perspective, if yet more special syntax must be introduced, idiom brackets would seem preferable. But personally, I'd rather there was no more special syntax unless it truly makes a difference, like for monads and (even more so) arrows. Best, /Henrik -- Henrik Nilsson School of Computer Science The University of Nottingham nhn@cs.nott.ac.uk This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.