Re: [Haskell-cafe] an idea for modifiyng data/newtype syntax: use `::=` instead of `=`

Anybody who comes acros "data _ = _" and feels entitled to understand it before looking up the data keyword is being too lazy. On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 1:09 AM, Alexey Muranov wrote:

On 18 août 2015, at 08:16, Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:

...

If you want to argue about the grammar of 'data' declarations, go right ahead. I myself was a little confused by them at the beginning, because the declare a new type and some constructors, but do not declare 'data' in the sense that a DATA statement in BASIC or Fortran or the DATA DIVISION in COBOL does. The word 'data' is so very far from conveying the idea "introduce a new type" that it's not funny.

Ok, then, just hypothetically (i do not want to argue about actually introducing it), how about

type Name = String type Date ::= Date Int Int Int type Anniversary ::= Birthday Name Date | Wedding Name Name Date

instead of

type Name = String data Date = Date Int Int Int data Anniversary = Birthday Name Date | Wedding Name Name Date

?

Alexey. _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe