"Simon Marlow"
I'm assuming you don't consider the distinction between '::' and ': :' to be a problem - the justification for this is simple and logical: a double colon '::' is a reserved symbol, in the same way that 'then' is a reserved identifier.
Intuitively a contigous string of symbols should form one identifier, just like a string of letters does. So '>>=' is different from '>> =' or '> >=' etc. I suspect I have to make some kind of exception for nesting/grouping symbols - parentheses and quotes etc.
- single-line comments (--??? is not a comment, but -- ??? is)
...so this doesn't bother me so much. Perhaps we need to either start adopting symbols outside of 7-bit ASCII? The other solution is to learn to use actual *names* instead of inventing ad-hoc strings of symbols. Haskell code tends to go overboard with symbolic operators, but in general, it detracts from the readability and adds to the learning curve. We don't have to just because we can. :-) -k -- If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants