16 Oct
2007
16 Oct
'07
6:36 p.m.
I think you should have to write negative numbers using the syntax 0-10, since currently having one single unary operator is ugly.
I think writing 0-10 is ugly.
Ugly - yes. But very clear as to its meaning. How often do people actually write negative numeric literals? My guess is that -1 is the most common by a long way, but even that is quite rare. Of course, real statistics of real programs are the only answer.
If you were doing away with unary minus, I'd prefer going for it entirely and going for negate :: (Num a) => a -> a. It could also be compile-time folded, so no performance impact obviously. It also expresses intent without looking as ugly: minusTen:: negate 10 David