8 Jun
2018
8 Jun
'18
5:10 p.m.
The "INLINABLE" pragma's name is misleading, it is more like "SPECIALISABLE". Consider the documentation for INLINABLE: Top-level definitions can be marked INLINABLE. myComplicatedFunction :: (Show a, Num a) => ... myComplicatedFunction = ... {-# INLINABLE myComplicatedFunction #-} This causes exactly two things to happens. 1. The function's (exact) definition is included in the interface file for the module. 2. The function will be specialised at use sites -- even across modules. Note that GHC is no more keen to inline an INLINABLE function than any other. I propose that we deprecate "INLINABLE" over a number of years at the same time as introducing "SPECIALISABLE". This wouldn't cause breakages for a long time.