On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, John Hughes wrote:
(Some object that := "means" assignment--but come on, we're not reserving := for future use as assignment in Haskell, are we? Why should we give up a perfectly good symbol because it's used elsewhere to mean something else?).
Programmers unfamiliar with Haskell but familiar with general programming ideas would be confused by it. I think this is a good reason to avoid (mis)use of this symbol. Quite a lot has been mentioned in various threads including this one about making sure that Haskell stays/becomes an easy/easier language to teach to undergraduates. However, there is a large and growing community of experienced programmers coming to Haskell and liking it, and we must keep them in mind too. A lot of them use the #haskell IRC channel as a resource, and as a regular there I have the impression that the numbers are on their way up quite rapidly. Cheers, Ganesh