X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=docs%2Fusers_guide%2Fglasgow_exts.xml;h=42c3fb8f9c62a8f7a97bbc553648f5d87a63fd85;hb=02e3571607b7c0bf460cdac1e02fa0ddcd6c4a8b;hp=63c5dbdf2ec8d7306da3ed454428d64206c3af7c;hpb=e8d4ca746464db8c15e935bc8f799536d7400ed8;p=ghc-hetmet.git
diff --git a/docs/users_guide/glasgow_exts.xml b/docs/users_guide/glasgow_exts.xml
index 63c5dbd..42c3fb8 100644
--- a/docs/users_guide/glasgow_exts.xml
+++ b/docs/users_guide/glasgow_exts.xml
@@ -52,263 +52,53 @@ documentation describes all the libraries that come with GHC.
Language options recognised by Cabal can also be enabled using the LANGUAGE pragma,
thus {-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-} (see >).
- Turning on an option that enables special syntax
- might cause working Haskell 98 code to fail
- to compile, perhaps because it uses a variable name which has
- become a reserved word. So, together with each option below, we
- list the special syntax which is enabled by this option. We use
- notation and nonterminal names from the Haskell 98 lexical syntax
- (see the Haskell 98 Report). There are two classes of special
- syntax:
-
-
-
- New reserved words and symbols: character sequences
- which are no longer available for use as identifiers in the
- program.
-
-
- Other special syntax: sequences of characters that have
- a different meaning when this particular option is turned
- on.
-
-
-
- We are only listing syntax changes here that might affect
- existing working programs (i.e. "stolen" syntax). Many of these
- extensions will also enable new context-free syntax, but in all
- cases programs written to use the new syntax would not be
- compilable without the option enabled.
-
-
-
-
-
- :
+ The flag
-
-
- This simultaneously enables all of the extensions to
- Haskell 98 described in , except where otherwise
- noted. We are trying to move away from this portmanteau flag,
+ is equivalent to enabling the following extensions:
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ .
+ Enabling these options is the only
+ effect of -fglasgow-exts.
+ We are trying to move away from this portmanteau flag,
and towards enabling features individually.
- New reserved words: forall (only in
- types), mdo.
-
- Other syntax stolen:
- varid{#},
- char#,
- string#,
- integer#,
- float#,
- float##,
- (#, #),
- |), {|.
-
- Implies these specific language options:
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- .
-
-
-
-
-
- :
-
-
-
- This option enables the language extension defined in the
- Haskell 98 Foreign Function Interface Addendum.
-
- New reserved words: foreign.
-
-
-
-
-
- ,:
-
-
- These two flags control how generalisation is done.
- See .
-
-
-
-
-
-
- :
-
-
-
- Use GHCi's extended default rules in a regular module ().
- Independent of the
- flag.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- See . Only relevant
- if you also use .
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- See . Only relevant if
- you also use .
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- See . Independent of
- .
-
- New reserved words/symbols: rec,
- proc, -<,
- >-, -<<,
- >>-.
-
- Other syntax stolen: (|,
- |).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- See . Independent of
- .
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -XNoImplicitPrelude
- option GHC normally imports
- Prelude.hi files for you. If you'd
- rather it didn't, then give it a
- option. The idea is
- that you can then import a Prelude of your own. (But don't
- call it Prelude; the Haskell module
- namespace is flat, and you must not conflict with any
- Prelude module.)
-
- Even though you have not imported the Prelude, most of
- the built-in syntax still refers to the built-in Haskell
- Prelude types and values, as specified by the Haskell
- Report. For example, the type [Int]
- still means Prelude.[] Int; tuples
- continue to refer to the standard Prelude tuples; the
- translation for list comprehensions continues to use
- Prelude.map etc.
-
- However, does
- change the handling of certain built-in syntax: see .
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Enables implicit parameters (see ). Currently also implied by
- .
-
- Syntax stolen:
- ?varid,
- %varid.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Enables overloaded string literals (see ).
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Enables lexically-scoped type variables (see ). Implied by
- .
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Enables Template Haskell (see ). This flag must
- be given explicitly; it is no longer implied by
- .
-
- Syntax stolen: [|,
- [e|, [p|,
- [d|, [t|,
- $(,
- $varid.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Enables quasiquotation (see ).
-
- Syntax stolen:
- [:varid|.
-
-
-
- Unboxed types and primitive operations
-GHC is built on a raft of primitive data types and operations.
+GHC is built on a raft of primitive data types and operations;
+"primitive" in the sense that they cannot be defined in Haskell itself.
While you really can use this stuff to write fast code,
we generally find it a lot less painful, and more satisfying in the
long run, to use higher-level language features and libraries. With
@@ -316,28 +106,21 @@ While you really can use this stuff to write fast code,
unboxed version in any case. And if it isn't, we'd like to know
about it.
-We do not currently have good, up-to-date documentation about the
-primitives, perhaps because they are mainly intended for internal use.
-There used to be a long section about them here in the User Guide, but it
-became out of date, and wrong information is worse than none.
-
-The Real Truth about what primitive types there are, and what operations
-work over those types, is held in the file
-compiler/prelude/primops.txt.pp.
-This file is used directly to generate GHC's primitive-operation definitions, so
-it is always correct! It is also intended for processing into text.
-
-Indeed,
-the result of such processing is part of the description of the
- External
- Core language.
-So that document is a good place to look for a type-set version.
-We would be very happy if someone wanted to volunteer to produce an XML
-back end to the program that processes primops.txt so that
-we could include the results here in the User Guide.
-
-What follows here is a brief summary of some main points.
+All these primitive data types and operations are exported by the
+library GHC.Prim, for which there is
+detailed online documentation.
+(This documentation is generated from the file compiler/prelude/primops.txt.pp.)
+
+
+If you want to mention any of the primitive data types or operations in your
+program, you must first import GHC.Prim to bring them
+into scope. Many of them have names ending in "#", and to mention such
+names you need the extension ().
+
+
+The primops make extensive use of unboxed types
+and unboxed tuples, which
+we briefly summarise here. Unboxed types
@@ -366,26 +149,15 @@ would use in C: <literal>Int#</literal> (long int),
know and love—usually one instruction.
</para>
-<para> For some primitive types we have special syntax for literals.
-Anything that would be an integer lexeme followed by a
-<literal>#</literal> is an <literal>Int#</literal> literal, e.g.
-<literal>32#</literal> and <literal>-0x3A#</literal>. Likewise,
-any non-negative integer literal followed by
-<literal>##</literal> is a <literal>Word#</literal> literal.
-Likewise, any floating point literal followed by a
-<literal>#</literal> is a <literal>Float#</literal> literal, and
-followed by <literal>##</literal> is a
-<literal>Double#</literal>. Finally, a string literal followed by a
-<literal>#</literal>, e.g. <literal>"foo"#</literal>,
-is a <literal>Addr#</literal> literal.
-</para>
-
<para>
Primitive (unboxed) types cannot be defined in Haskell, and are
therefore built into the language and compiler. Primitive types are
always unlifted; that is, a value of a primitive type cannot be
-bottom. We use the convention that primitive types, values, and
-operations have a <literal>#</literal> suffix.
+bottom. We use the convention (but it is only a convention)
+that primitive types, values, and
+operations have a <literal>#</literal> suffix (see <xref linkend="magic-hash"/>).
+For some primitive types we have special syntax for literals, also
+described in the <link linkend="magic-hash">same section</link>.
</para>
<para>
@@ -562,8 +334,77 @@ Indeed, the bindings can even be recursive.
<sect1 id="syntax-extns">
<title>Syntactic extensions
+
+ The magic hash
+ The language extension allows "#" as a
+ postfix modifier to identifiers. Thus, "x#" is a valid variable, and "T#" is
+ a valid type constructor or data constructor.
+
+ The hash sign does not change sematics at all. We tend to use variable
+ names ending in "#" for unboxed values or types (e.g. Int#),
+ but there is no requirement to do so; they are just plain ordinary variables.
+ Nor does the extension bring anything into scope.
+ For example, to bring Int# into scope you must
+ import GHC.Prim (see );
+ the extension
+ then allows you to refer to the Int#
+ that is now in scope.
+ The also enables some new forms of literals (see ):
+
+ 'x'# has type Char#
+ "foo"# has type Addr#
+ 3# has type Int#. In general,
+ any Haskell 98 integer lexeme followed by a # is an Int# literal, e.g.
+ -0x3A# as well as 32#.
+ 3## has type Word#. In general,
+ any non-negative Haskell 98 integer lexeme followed by ##
+ is a Word#.
+ 3.2# has type Float#.
+ 3.2## has type Double#
+
+
+
+
+
+ New qualified operator syntax
+
+ A new syntax for referencing qualified operators is
+ planned to be introduced by Haskell', and is enabled in GHC
+ with
+ the
+ option. In the new syntax, the prefix form of a qualified
+ operator is
+ written module.(symbol)
+ (in Haskell 98 this would
+ be (module.symbol)),
+ and the infix form is
+ written `module.(symbol)`
+ (in Haskell 98 this would
+ be `module.symbol`.
+ For example:
+
+ add x y = Prelude.(+) x y
+ subtract y = (`Prelude.(-)` y)
+
+ The new form of qualified operators is intended to regularise
+ the syntax by eliminating odd cases
+ like Prelude... For example,
+ when NewQualifiedOperators is on, it is possible to
+ write the enerated sequence [Monday..]
+ without spaces, whereas in Haskell 98 this would be a
+ reference to the operator ‘.‘
+ from module Monday.
+
+ When is on, the old Haskell
+ 98 syntax for qualified operators is not accepted, so this
+ option may cause existing Haskell 98 code to break.
+
+
+
+
+
Hierarchical Modules
@@ -1018,11 +859,6 @@ and improve termination (Section 3.2 of the paper).
-The web page: http://www.cse.ogi.edu/PacSoft/projects/rmb/
-contains up to date information on recursive monadic bindings.
-
-
-
Historical note: The old implementation of the mdo-notation (and most
of the existing documents) used the name
MonadRec for the class and the corresponding library.
@@ -1247,21 +1083,28 @@ output = [ x
-Rebindable syntax
-
- GHC allows most kinds of built-in syntax to be rebound by
- the user, to facilitate replacing the Prelude
- with a home-grown version, for example.
-
- You may want to define your own numeric class
+Rebindable syntax and the implicit Prelude import
+
+ -XNoImplicitPrelude
+ option GHC normally imports
+ Prelude.hi files for you. If you'd
+ rather it didn't, then give it a
+ option. The idea is
+ that you can then import a Prelude of your own. (But don't
+ call it Prelude; the Haskell module
+ namespace is flat, and you must not conflict with any
+ Prelude module.)
+
+ Suppose you are importing a Prelude of your own
+ in order to define your own numeric class
hierarchy. It completely defeats that purpose if the
literal "1" means "Prelude.fromInteger
1", which is what the Haskell Report specifies.
- So the flag causes
+ So the
+ flag also causes
the following pieces of built-in syntax to refer to
whatever is in scope, not the Prelude
versions:
-
An integer literal 368 means
@@ -1568,6 +1411,167 @@ necessary to enable them.
+
+ Package-qualified imports
+
+ With the flag, GHC allows
+ import declarations to be qualified by the package name that the
+ module is intended to be imported from. For example:
+
+
+import "network" Network.Socket
+
+
+ would import the module Network.Socket from
+ the package network (any version). This may
+ be used to disambiguate an import when the same module is
+ available from multiple packages, or is present in both the
+ current package being built and an external package.
+
+ Note: you probably don't need to use this feature, it was
+ added mainly so that we can build backwards-compatible versions of
+ packages when APIs change. It can lead to fragile dependencies in
+ the common case: modules occasionally move from one package to
+ another, rendering any package-qualified imports broken.
+
+
+
+Summary of stolen syntax
+
+ Turning on an option that enables special syntax
+ might cause working Haskell 98 code to fail
+ to compile, perhaps because it uses a variable name which has
+ become a reserved word. This section lists the syntax that is
+ "stolen" by language extensions.
+ We use
+ notation and nonterminal names from the Haskell 98 lexical syntax
+ (see the Haskell 98 Report).
+ We only list syntax changes here that might affect
+ existing working programs (i.e. "stolen" syntax). Many of these
+ extensions will also enable new context-free syntax, but in all
+ cases programs written to use the new syntax would not be
+ compilable without the option enabled.
+
+There are two classes of special
+ syntax:
+
+
+
+ New reserved words and symbols: character sequences
+ which are no longer available for use as identifiers in the
+ program.
+
+
+ Other special syntax: sequences of characters that have
+ a different meaning when this particular option is turned
+ on.
+
+
+
+The following syntax is stolen:
+
+
+
+
+ forall
+ forall
+
+
+ Stolen (in types) by: ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+ ,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ mdo
+ mdo
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ foreign
+ foreign
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ rec,
+ proc, -<,
+ >-, -<<,
+ >>-, and (|,
+ |) brackets
+ proc
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ ?varid,
+ %varid
+ implicit parameters
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ [|,
+ [e|, [p|,
+ [d|, [t|,
+ $(,
+ $varid
+ Template Haskell
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ [:varid|
+ quasi-quotation
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
+ varid{#},
+ char#,
+ string#,
+ integer#,
+ float#,
+ float##,
+ (#, #),
+
+
+ Stolen by: ,
+
+
+
+
+
@@ -1668,9 +1672,12 @@ to be written infix, very much like expressions. More specifically:
Liberalised type synonyms
-Type synonyms are like macros at the type level, and
+Type synonyms are like macros at the type level, but Haskell 98 imposes many rules
+on individual synonym declarations.
+With the extension,
GHC does validity checking on types only after expanding type synonyms.
-That means that GHC can be very much more liberal about type synonyms than Haskell 98:
+That means that GHC can be very much more liberal about type synonyms than Haskell 98.
+
You can write a forall (including overloading)
in a type synonym, thus:
@@ -1687,7 +1694,8 @@ in a type synonym, thus:
-You can write an unboxed tuple in a type synonym:
+If you also use ,
+you can write an unboxed tuple in a type synonym:
type Pr = (# Int, Int #)
@@ -2487,12 +2495,16 @@ When pattern-matching against data constructors drawn from a GADT,
for example in a case expression, the following rules apply:
The type of the scrutinee must be rigid.
-The type of the result of the case expression must be rigid.
+The type of the entire case expression must be rigid.The type of any free variable mentioned in any of
the case alternatives must be rigid.
A type is "rigid" if it is completely known to the compiler at its binding site. The easiest
way to ensure that a variable a rigid type is to give it a type signature.
+For more precise details see
+Simple unification-based type inference for GADTs
+. The criteria implemented by GHC are given in the Appendix.
+
@@ -3486,14 +3498,36 @@ Notice that we gave a type signature to f, so GHC had to
check that f has the specified type.
Suppose instead we do not give a type signature, asking GHC to infer
it instead. In this case, GHC will refrain from
-simplifying the constraint C Int [Int] (for the same reason
+simplifying the constraint C Int [b] (for the same reason
as before) but, rather than rejecting the program, it will infer the type
- f :: C Int b => [b] -> [b]
+ f :: C Int [b] => [b] -> [b]
That postpones the question of which instance to pick to the
call site for f
by which time more is known about the type b.
+You can write this type signature yourself if you use the
+
+flag.
+
+
+Exactly the same situation can arise in instance declarations themselves. Suppose we have
+
+ class Foo a where
+ f :: a -> a
+ instance Foo [b] where
+ f x = ...
+
+and, as before, the constraint C Int [b] arises from f's
+right hand side. GHC will reject the instance, complaining as before that it does not know how to resolve
+the constraint C Int [b], because it matches more than one instance
+declaration. The solution is to postpone the choice by adding the constraint to the context
+of the instance declaration, thus:
+
+ instance C Int [b] => Foo [b] where
+ f x = ...
+
+(You need to do this.)
The willingness to be overlapped or incoherent is a property of
@@ -3668,9 +3702,11 @@ to work since it gets translated into an equality comparison.
The context of a type signature
-Unlike Haskell 98, constraints in types do not have to be of
-the form (class type-variable) or
-(class (type-variable type-variable ...)). Thus,
+The flag lifts the Haskell 98 restriction
+that the type-class constraints in a type signature must have the
+form (class type-variable) or
+(class (type-variable type-variable ...)).
+With
these type signatures are perfectly OK
g :: Eq [a] => ...
@@ -5366,6 +5402,8 @@ For more details, see
“Generalising Monads to Arrows”,
John Hughes, in Science of Computer Programming 37,
pp67–111, May 2000.
+The paper that introduced arrows: a friendly introduction, motivated with
+programming examples.
@@ -5373,6 +5411,7 @@ pp67–111, May 2000.
“A New Notation for Arrows”,
Ross Paterson, in ICFP, Sep 2001.
+Introduced the notation described here.
@@ -5384,17 +5423,42 @@ Palgrave, 2003.
-
-and the arrows web page at
+
+
+“Programming with Arrows”,
+John Hughes, in 5th International Summer School on
+Advanced Functional Programming,
+Lecture Notes in Computer Science vol. 3622,
+Springer, 2004.
+This paper includes another introduction to the notation,
+with practical examples.
+
+
+
+
+
+“Type and Translation Rules for Arrow Notation in GHC”,
+Ross Paterson and Simon Peyton Jones, September 16, 2004.
+A terse enumeration of the formal rules used
+(extracted from comments in the source code).
+
+
+
+
+
+The arrows web page at
http://www.haskell.org/arrows/.
+
+
+
+
With the flag, GHC supports the arrow
-notation described in the second of these papers.
-What follows is a brief introduction to the notation;
-it won't make much sense unless you've read Hughes's paper.
-This notation is translated to ordinary Haskell,
-using combinators from the
+notation described in the second of these papers,
+translating it using combinators from the
Control.Arrow
module.
+What follows is a brief introduction to the notation;
+it won't make much sense unless you've read Hughes's paper.
The extension adds a new kind of expression for defining arrows:
@@ -5668,7 +5732,8 @@ We could define our own operator
untilA :: ArrowChoice a => a e () -> a e Bool -> a e ()
untilA body cond = proc x ->
- if cond x then returnA -< ()
+ b <- cond -< x
+ if b then returnA -< ()
else do
body -< x
untilA body cond -< x
@@ -6651,15 +6716,7 @@ data S = S {-# UNPACK #-} !Int {-# UNPACK #-} !Int
The programmer can specify rewrite rules as part of the source program
-(in a pragma). GHC applies these rewrite rules wherever it can, provided (a)
-the flag () is on,
-and (b) the flag
-() is not specified, and (c) the
- ()
-flag is active.
-
-
-
+(in a pragma).
Here is an example:
@@ -6779,17 +6836,40 @@ variables it mentions, though of course they need to be in scope.
- Rules are automatically exported from a module, just as instance declarations are.
+ All rules are implicitly exported from the module, and are therefore
+in force in any module that imports the module that defined the rule, directly
+or indirectly. (That is, if A imports B, which imports C, then C's rules are
+in force when compiling A.) The situation is very similar to that for instance
+declarations.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Inside a RULE "forall" is treated as a keyword, regardless of
+any other flag settings. Furthermore, inside a RULE, the language extension
+ is automatically enabled; see
+.
+
+
+Like other pragmas, RULE pragmas are always checked for scope errors, and
+are typechecked. Typechecking means that the LHS and RHS of a rule are typechecked,
+and must have the same type. However, rules are only enabled
+if the flag is
+on (see ).
+
+
-
+Semantics
@@ -6797,9 +6877,17 @@ From a semantic point of view:
-
-Rules are only applied if you use the flag.
+Rules are enabled (that is, used during optimisation)
+by the flag.
+This flag is implied by , and may be switched
+off (as usual) by .
+(NB: enabling without
+may not do what you expect, though, because without GHC
+ignores all optimisation information in interface files;
+see , .)
+Note that is an optimisation flag, and
+has no effect on parsing or typechecking.
@@ -6816,14 +6904,6 @@ expression by substituting for the pattern variables.
- The LHS and RHS of a rule are typechecked, and must have the
-same type.
-
-
-
-
-
-
GHC makes absolutely no attempt to verify that the LHS and RHS
of a rule have the same meaning. That is undecidable in general, and
infeasible in most interesting cases. The responsibility is entirely the programmer's!
@@ -6916,17 +6996,6 @@ pragma on f, to ensure
that it is not inlined until its RULEs have had a chance to fire.
-
-
-
- All rules are implicitly exported from the module, and are therefore
-in force in any module that imports the module that defined the rule, directly
-or indirectly. (That is, if A imports B, which imports C, then C's rules are
-in force when compiling A.) The situation is very similar to that for instance
-declarations.
-
-
-