X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Data%2FMaybe.hs;h=1a1467f7f3ad43eee102589b2c19583d17203584;hb=6bbd4780e49f69a08ae373b5a07bd15b037013f7;hp=36e684e1ea62cfd6de0714a4b9294f7d85f68832;hpb=9fa9bc17072a58c0bae2cce4764d38677e96ac29;p=ghc-base.git

diff --git a/Data/Maybe.hs b/Data/Maybe.hs
index 36e684e..1a1467f 100644
--- a/Data/Maybe.hs
+++ b/Data/Maybe.hs
@@ -3,14 +3,12 @@
 -- |
 -- Module      :  Data.Maybe
 -- Copyright   :  (c) The University of Glasgow 2001
--- License     :  BSD-style (see the file libraries/core/LICENSE)
+-- License     :  BSD-style (see the file libraries/base/LICENSE)
 -- 
 -- Maintainer  :  libraries@haskell.org
 -- Stability   :  experimental
 -- Portability :  portable
 --
--- $Id: Maybe.hs,v 1.4 2002/04/24 16:31:39 simonmar Exp $
---
 -- The Maybe type, and associated operations.
 --
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -37,10 +35,22 @@ import {-# SOURCE #-} GHC.Err ( error )
 import GHC.Base
 #endif
 
+#ifndef __HUGS__
 -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- The Maybe type, and instances
 
-data  Maybe a  =  Nothing | Just a	deriving (Eq, Ord)
+-- | The 'Maybe' type encapsulates an optional value.  A value of type
+-- @'Maybe' a@ either contains a value of type @a@ (represented as @'Just' a@), 
+-- or it is empty (represented as 'Nothing').  Using 'Maybe' is a good way to 
+-- deal with errors or exceptional cases without resorting to drastic
+-- measures such as 'error'.
+--
+-- The 'Maybe' type is also a monad.  It is a simple kind of error
+-- monad, where all errors are represented by 'Nothing'.  A richer
+-- error monad can be built using the 'Data.Either.Either' type.
+
+data  Maybe a  =  Nothing | Just a	
+  deriving (Eq, Ord)
 
 instance  Functor Maybe  where
     fmap _ Nothing       = Nothing
@@ -62,6 +72,7 @@ instance  Monad Maybe  where
 maybe :: b -> (a -> b) -> Maybe a -> b
 maybe n _ Nothing  = n
 maybe _ f (Just x) = f x
+#endif  /* __HUGS__ */
 
 isJust         :: Maybe a -> Bool
 isJust Nothing = False