On Tue, 2007-09-25 at 19:18 +0100, Brian Hulley wrote:
Brian Hulley wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone can shed light on the reason why
x # y
gets desugared to
(#) x y
and not
(#) y x
Can anyone think of an example where the current desugaring of infix arguments gives the correct order when the function is used in a postfix application? (apart from commutative functions of course!)
Sorry I meant to write "*prefix* application"
Of course, this is all a consequence of the well-known failure of natural language: verbs come before their objects. It is thus natural to write f(x), when in fact it is the object that should come first, not the function. Switching to a (natural) language where (finite) verbs come at the end of sentences, where they belong, should fix this issue in time. Doing the same in a functional language would be ideal as well, but might limit its use among those who speak inferior natural languages. jcc