Ketil says: | While we're at it, are there any plans to remove this paragraph from | section 2.1: | | | Haskell uses a pre-processor to convert non-Unicode character sets | | into Unicode. This pre-processor converts all characters to Unicode | | and uses the escape sequence \uhhhh, where the "h" are hex digits, | | to denote escaped Unicode characters. Since this translation occurs | | before the program is compiled, escaped Unicode characters may | | appear in identifiers and any other place in the program. I agree! This para should go. No impl does it, and the paragraph is inconsistent with the lexical syntax of identifiers (which can't contain escapes like \uhhh). I therefore propose to delete this para altogether. | Note that the 16-bits remark should probably be removed, Unicode code | points extend beyond that nowadays. It was removed some while ago. | Also, if a provision is made for escaped Unicode in identifiers, it | would be nice if the section on layout (2.7) discouraged layout rules | where the indentation level depended on the width of non-space | characters. (Ideally, this would result in a compiler warning.) | In fact, this might always be useful, since some Unicode characters | are defined as double width. OK, here's what I suggest. The Report currently says: "For the purposes of the layout rule, Unicode characters in a source program are considered to be of the same, fixed, width as an ASCII character." I do not propose to change this statement now. Doubtless it could be cleverer, but it's too late for new cleverness. I would, however, be willing to add: "To avoid visual confusion, programmers should avoid writing programs in which the meaning of implicit layout depends on the width of non-space characters." That's more or less what Ketil suggested, and I think is non-controversial. Any comments? Simon