Christian Maeder wrote:
Okasaki, C. DR EECS wrote:
insert 1 a $ insert 2 b $ insert 3 c dict
A further argument for this notation is its close resemblance to the notation with function composition:
insert 1 a . insert 2 b . insert 3 c $ dict
... of course keeping in mind that that's exactly the "wrong" way to compose functions. See any algebra textbook for definition of (f . g) (namely, first apply f, then apply g) Motivations: 1. flow of information should be from left to right 2. consistency with composition of relations. of course you could say that even writing f(x) is "wrong" (see item 1) and there are indeed books that write xf instead (e. g. Sakarovitch: Theorie des Automates - but then even he makes exceptions, e. g. he uses prefix notation for lim, sin, dom ... :-) on the other hand I know at least on textbook that has the relational composition the wrong way around, obviously in order to make it agree with the wrong functional composition. best regards, -- -- Johannes Waldmann -- Tel/Fax (0341) 3076 6479/80 -- ---- http://www.imn.htwk-leipzig.de/~waldmann/ -------