You can always newtype your list. I'm opposed to having everyone suffer today just because someone someday may want to write an alternative instance. On 18/05/15 17:57, Yitzchak Gale wrote:
Michael Snoyman wrote:
I have a hard time thinking of a list of something besides `Char`s for which we'd want an `IsString` instance to work for.
I have an easy time. The `Data.Char` module is always woefully behind the Unicode standard, and there are always Unicode features that are implemented differently than what some people might want.
A case in point is toUpper and toLower. Those were fixed in Data.Text, but are still broken in Data.Char.
For me, so far this has not been important enough for me to need to implement my own Char type, or a newtype wrapper with improvements. But it is certainly conceivable that others might need this.
Whether or not you like those examples - it is really the wrong approach to outlaw IsString [a] instance forever more for any a except Char.
Yes, this is a serious problem that should be solved. But are we really giving up on doing it the right way and fixing defaulting rules? Simon wrote that it wouldn't be hard.
I propose: Set a reasonable time limit for someone to step up and provide a suggested fix to the defaulting rules. If that doesn't happen, then bite the bullet and do it using the type equality
Thanks, Yitz _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@haskell.org http://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/libraries