Chris Smith wrote:
I'm definitely not arguing for this ($) associativity change, for example, and my objection is the backward compatibility. But ultimately, it's more like a combination of incompatibility and the lack of a really compelling story on why it should be one way or the other. I have a hard time calling this a "fix"; it's more like a change of personal taste.
The $ problem is an interesting one, for it has the following properties: 1) Someone who learns Haskell for the first time will not complain about either associativity. Whether it's left or right associative is rather unimportant, it is how it is and either way is fine. 2) But once the decision has been made, it's nigh impossible to change it, simply because everybody has relied on one particular associativity of $ all the time. 3) Assuming that this associativity is a matter of taste, it only sounds fair to experiment and try different tastes. So, Cale has a Prelude with left associative $ and Lennart has a different personal Prelude as well and I'm going too taste a sip of either one and brew my own functional coffee. But in that situation, the defining property of a standard, namely that everybody uses the same $ , is gone, everybody would have to check which one is used in which module. It's like being forced to eat chicken only because chicken lay eggs. Some may like it, some may not, but the eggs will hatch new chicken who lay new eggs for all eternity :) Regards, apfelmus