26 Oct
2001
26 Oct
'01
7:05 a.m.
George Russel proposed a search for things which should be deprecated. I have a very distinct unfondness for contexts in algebraic data type declarations. They make absolutely no difference except move type errors to a different part of a program (or rather, they add type errors). In that sense they could be said to be quite harmless, but they dramatically complicate the typing rules for everything involving algebraic data types, especially when combined with labelled fields. Cheers, /kff Seconded! There is a sensible meaning for contexts on data-type declarations, but Haskell ones don't have it. (See my paper "Restricted Data Types" in the Haskell workshop a couple of years ago). At present they are simply useless. John