</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
+ <term><option>-fimplicit-params</option></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Enables implicit parameters (see <xref
+ linkend="implicit-parameters"/>). Currently also implied by
+ <option>-fglasgow-exts</option>.</para>
+
+ <para>Syntax stolen:
+ <literal>?<replaceable>varid</replaceable></literal>,
+ <literal>%<replaceable>varid</replaceable></literal>.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>-fscoped-type-variables</option></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Enables lexically-scoped type variables (see <xref
+ linkend="scoped-type-variables"/>). Implied by
+ <option>-fglasgow-exts</option>.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
<term><option>-fth</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>Enables Template Haskell (see <xref
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><option>-fimplicit-params</option></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Enables implicit parameters (see <xref
- linkend="implicit-parameters"/>). Currently also implied by
- <option>-fglasgow-exts</option>.</para>
-
- <para>Syntax stolen:
- <literal>?<replaceable>varid</replaceable></literal>,
- <literal>%<replaceable>varid</replaceable></literal>.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect1>
<para>The Real Truth about what primitive types there are, and what operations
work over those types, is held in the file
-<filename>fptools/ghc/compiler/prelude/primops.txt</filename>.
+<filename>fptools/ghc/compiler/prelude/primops.txt.pp</filename>.
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.</para>
represents a primitive value, then it really does point to that value:
no unevaluated thunks, no indirections…nothing can be at the
other end of the pointer than the primitive value.
+A numerically-intensive program using unboxed types can
+go a <emphasis>lot</emphasis> faster than its “standard”
+counterpart—we saw a threefold speedup on one example.
</para>
<para>
-There are some restrictions on the use of primitive types, the main
-one being that you can't pass a primitive value to a polymorphic
+There are some restrictions on the use of primitive types:
+<itemizedlist>
+<listitem><para>The main restriction
+is that you can't pass a primitive value to a polymorphic
function or store one in a polymorphic data type. This rules out
things like <literal>[Int#]</literal> (i.e. lists of primitive
integers). The reason for this restriction is that polymorphic
worse, the unboxed value might be larger than a pointer
(<literal>Double#</literal> for instance).
</para>
+</listitem>
+<listitem><para> You cannot bind a variable with an unboxed type
+in a <emphasis>top-level</emphasis> binding.
+</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para> You cannot bind a variable with an unboxed type
+in a <emphasis>recursive</emphasis> binding.
+</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para> You may bind unboxed variables in a (non-recursive,
+non-top-level) pattern binding, but any such variable causes the entire
+pattern-match
+to become strict. For example:
+<programlisting>
+ data Foo = Foo Int Int#
-<para>
-Nevertheless, A numerically-intensive program using unboxed types can
-go a <emphasis>lot</emphasis> faster than its “standard”
-counterpart—we saw a threefold speedup on one example.
+ f x = let (Foo a b, w) = ..rhs.. in ..body..
+</programlisting>
+Since <literal>b</literal> has type <literal>Int#</literal>, the entire pattern
+match
+is strict, and the program behaves as if you had written
+<programlisting>
+ data Foo = Foo Int Int#
+
+ f x = case ..rhs.. of { (Foo a b, w) -> ..body.. }
+</programlisting>
+</para>
+</listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
using fully-fledged tuples. When an unboxed tuple is returned, the
components are put directly into registers or on the stack; the
unboxed tuple itself does not have a composite representation. Many
-of the primitive operations listed in this section return unboxed
+of the primitive operations listed in <literal>primops.txt.pp</literal> return unboxed
tuples.
+In particular, the <literal>IO</literal> and <literal>ST</literal> monads use unboxed
+tuples to avoid unnecessary allocation during sequences of operations.
</para>
<para>
There are some pretty stringent restrictions on the use of unboxed tuples:
-</para>
-
-<para>
-
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Unboxed tuple types are subject to the same restrictions as
+Values of unboxed tuple types are subject to the same restrictions as
other unboxed types; i.e. they may not be stored in polymorphic data
structures or passed to polymorphic functions.
<listitem>
<para>
- Unboxed tuples may only be constructed as the direct result of
-a function, and may only be deconstructed with a <literal>case</literal> expression.
-eg. the following are valid:
+No variable can have an unboxed tuple type, nor may a constructor or function
+argument have an unboxed tuple type. The following are all illegal:
<programlisting>
-f x y = (# x+1, y-1 #)
-g x = case f x x of { (# a, b #) -> a + b }
-</programlisting>
-
-
-but the following are invalid:
-
-
-<programlisting>
-f x y = g (# x, y #)
-g (# x, y #) = x + y
-</programlisting>
-
-
-</para>
-</listitem>
-<listitem>
+ data Foo = Foo (# Int, Int #)
-<para>
- No variable can have an unboxed tuple type. This is illegal:
+ f :: (# Int, Int #) -> (# Int, Int #)
+ f x = x
+ g :: (# Int, Int #) -> Int
+ g (# a,b #) = a
-<programlisting>
-f :: (# Int, Int #) -> (# Int, Int #)
-f x = x
+ h x = let y = (# x,x #) in ...
</programlisting>
-
-
-because <literal>x</literal> has an unboxed tuple type.
-
</para>
</listitem>
-
</itemizedlist>
-
</para>
-
<para>
-Note: we may relax some of these restrictions in the future.
-</para>
-
-<para>
-The <literal>IO</literal> and <literal>ST</literal> monads use unboxed
-tuples to avoid unnecessary allocation during sequences of operations.
+The typical use of unboxed tuples is simply to return multiple values,
+binding those multiple results with a <literal>case</literal> expression, thus:
+<programlisting>
+ f x y = (# x+1, y-1 #)
+ g x = case f x x of { (# a, b #) -> a + b }
+</programlisting>
+You can have an unboxed tuple in a pattern binding, thus
+<programlisting>
+ f x = let (# p,q #) = h x in ..body..
+</programlisting>
+If the types of <literal>p</literal> and <literal>q</literal> are not unboxed,
+the resulting binding is lazy like any other Haskell pattern binding. The
+above example desugars like this:
+<programlisting>
+ f x = let t = case h x o f{ (# p,q #) -> (p,q)
+ p = fst t
+ q = snd t
+ in ..body..
+</programlisting>
+Indeed, the bindings can even be recursive.
</para>
</sect2>
</programlisting>
<para>
-The semantics should be clear enough. The qualifers are matched in order.
+The semantics should be clear enough. The qualifiers are matched in order.
For a <literal><-</literal> qualifier, which I call a pattern guard, the
right hand side is evaluated and matched against the pattern on the left.
If the match fails then the whole guard fails and the next equation is
</sect3>
<sect3 id="infix-tycons">
-<title>Infix type constructors</title>
+<title>Infix type constructors and classes</title>
<para>
-GHC allows type constructors to be operators, and to be written infix, very much
+GHC allows type constructors and classes to be operators, and to be written infix, very much
like expressions. More specifically:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
- A type constructor can be an operator, beginning with a colon; e.g. <literal>:*:</literal>.
+ A type constructor or class can be an operator, beginning with a colon; e.g. <literal>:*:</literal>.
The lexical syntax is the same as that for data constructors.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
- Types can be written infix. For example <literal>Int :*: Bool</literal>.
+ Data type and type-synonym declarations can be written infix, parenthesised
+ if you want further arguments. E.g.
+<screen>
+ data a :*: b = Foo a b
+ type a :+: b = Either a b
+ class a :=: b where ...
+
+ data (a :**: b) x = Baz a b x
+ type (a :++: b) y = Either (a,b) y
+</screen>
+ </para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>
+ Types, and class constraints, can be written infix. For example
+ <screen>
+ x :: Int :*: Bool
+ f :: (a :=: b) => a -> b
+ </screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Back-quotes work
<literal>Int `a` Bool</literal>. Similarly, parentheses work the same; e.g. <literal>(:*:) Int Bool</literal>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
- Fixities may be declared for type constructors just as for data constructors. However,
+ Fixities may be declared for type constructors, or classes, just as for data constructors. However,
one cannot distinguish between the two in a fixity declaration; a fixity declaration
sets the fixity for a data constructor and the corresponding type constructor. For example:
<screen>
Function arrow is <literal>infixr</literal> with fixity 0. (This might change; I'm not sure what it should be.)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
- Data type and type-synonym declarations can be written infix. E.g.
-<screen>
- data a :*: b = Foo a b
- type a :+: b = Either a b
-</screen>
- </para></listitem>
-<listitem><para>
The only thing that differs between operators in types and operators in expressions is that
ordinary non-constructor operators, such as <literal>+</literal> and <literal>*</literal>
are not allowed in types. Reason: the uniform thing to do would be to make them type
<title>Liberalised type synonyms</title>
<para>
-Type synonmys are like macros at the type level, and
+Type synonyms are like macros at the type level, and
GHC does validity checking on types <emphasis>only after expanding type synonyms</emphasis>.
That means that GHC can be very much more liberal about type synonyms than Haskell 98:
<itemizedlist>
foo :: Generic Id []
</programlisting>
-After epxanding the synonym, <literal>foo</literal> has the legal (in GHC) type:
+After expanding the synonym, <literal>foo</literal> has the legal (in GHC) type:
<programlisting>
foo :: forall x. x -> [x]
</programlisting>
<para>
<emphasis>All of the class type variables must be reachable (in the sense
mentioned in <xref linkend="type-restrictions"/>)
-from the free varibles of each method type
+from the free variables of each method type
</emphasis>. For example:
<para>
Note
that the reachability condition is weaker than saying that <literal>a</literal> is
-functionally dependendent on a type variable free in
+functionally dependent on a type variable free in
<literal>type</literal> (see <xref
linkend="functional-dependencies"/>). The reason for this is there
might be a "hidden" dependency, in a superclass perhaps. So
<sect2 id="instance-decls">
<title>Instance declarations</title>
-<sect3>
+<sect3 id="instance-overlap">
<title>Overlapping instances</title>
<para>
-In general, <emphasis>instance declarations may not overlap</emphasis>. The two instance
-declarations
-
-
-<programlisting>
- instance context1 => C type1 where ...
- instance context2 => C type2 where ...
-</programlisting>
-
-"overlap" if <literal>type1</literal> and <literal>type2</literal> unify.
-</para>
-<para>
-However, if you give the command line option
-<option>-fallow-overlapping-instances</option><indexterm><primary>-fallow-overlapping-instances
-option</primary></indexterm> then overlapping instance declarations are permitted.
-However, GHC arranges never to commit to using an instance declaration
-if another instance declaration also applies, either now or later.
-
-<itemizedlist>
-<listitem>
-
-<para>
- EITHER <literal>type1</literal> and <literal>type2</literal> do not unify
-</para>
-</listitem>
-<listitem>
-
-<para>
- OR <literal>type2</literal> is a substitution instance of <literal>type1</literal>
-(but not identical to <literal>type1</literal>), or vice versa.
-</para>
-</listitem>
-</itemizedlist>
-Notice that these rules
-<itemizedlist>
-<listitem>
-
-<para>
- make it clear which instance decl to use
-(pick the most specific one that matches)
-
-</para>
-</listitem>
-<listitem>
-
-<para>
- do not mention the contexts <literal>context1</literal>, <literal>context2</literal>
-Reason: you can pick which instance decl
-"matches" based on the type.
-</para>
-</listitem>
-
-</itemizedlist>
-However the rules are over-conservative. Two instance declarations can overlap,
-but it can still be clear in particular situations which to use. For example:
-<programlisting>
- instance C (Int,a) where ...
- instance C (a,Bool) where ...
-</programlisting>
-These are rejected by GHC's rules, but it is clear what to do when trying
-to solve the constraint <literal>C (Int,Int)</literal> because the second instance
-cannot apply. Yell if this restriction bites you.
-</para>
-<para>
-GHC is also conservative about committing to an overlapping instance. For example:
-<programlisting>
- class C a where { op :: a -> a }
- instance C [Int] where ...
- instance C a => C [a] where ...
-
- f :: C b => [b] -> [b]
- f x = op x
-</programlisting>
-From the RHS of f we get the constraint <literal>C [b]</literal>. But
-GHC does not commit to the second instance declaration, because in a paricular
-call of f, b might be instantiate to Int, so the first instance declaration
-would be appropriate. So GHC rejects the program. If you add <option>-fallow-incoherent-instances</option>
-GHC will instead silently pick the second instance, without complaining about
+In general, <emphasis>GHC requires that that it be unambiguous which instance
+declaration
+should be used to resolve a type-class constraint</emphasis>. This behaviour
+can be modified by two flags: <option>-fallow-overlapping-instances</option>
+<indexterm><primary>-fallow-overlapping-instances
+</primary></indexterm>
+and <option>-fallow-incoherent-instances</option>
+<indexterm><primary>-fallow-incoherent-instances
+</primary></indexterm>, as this section discusses.</para>
+<para>
+When GHC tries to resolve, say, the constraint <literal>C Int Bool</literal>,
+it tries to match every instance declaration against the
+constraint,
+by instantiating the head of the instance declaration. For example, consider
+these declarations:
+<programlisting>
+ instance context1 => C Int a where ... -- (A)
+ instance context2 => C a Bool where ... -- (B)
+ instance context3 => C Int [a] where ... -- (C)
+ instance context4 => C Int [Int] where ... -- (D)
+</programlisting>
+The instances (A) and (B) match the constraint <literal>C Int Bool</literal>, but (C) and (D) do not. When matching, GHC takes
+no account of the context of the instance declaration
+(<literal>context1</literal> etc).
+GHC's default behaviour is that <emphasis>exactly one instance must match the
+constraint it is trying to resolve</emphasis>.
+It is fine for there to be a <emphasis>potential</emphasis> of overlap (by
+including both declarations (A) and (B), say); an error is only reported if a
+particular constraint matches more than one.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+The <option>-fallow-overlapping-instances</option> flag instructs GHC to allow
+more than one instance to match, provided there is a most specific one. For
+example, the constraint <literal>C Int [Int]</literal> matches instances (A),
+(C) and (D), but the last is more specific, and hence is chosen. If there is no
+most-specific match, the program is rejected.
+</para>
+<para>
+However, GHC is conservative about committing to an overlapping instance. For example:
+<programlisting>
+ f :: [b] -> [b]
+ f x = ...
+</programlisting>
+Suppose that from the RHS of <literal>f</literal> we get the constraint
+<literal>C Int [b]</literal>. But
+GHC does not commit to instance (C), because in a particular
+call of <literal>f</literal>, <literal>b</literal> might be instantiate
+to <literal>Int</literal>, in which case instance (D) would be more specific still.
+So GHC rejects the program. If you add the flag <option>-fallow-incoherent-instances</option>,
+GHC will instead pick (C), without complaining about
the problem of subsequent instantiations.
</para>
<para>
-Regrettably, GHC doesn't guarantee to detect overlapping instance
-declarations if they appear in different modules. GHC can "see" the
-instance declarations in the transitive closure of all the modules
-imported by the one being compiled, so it can "see" all instance decls
-when it is compiling <literal>Main</literal>. However, it currently chooses not
-to look at ones that can't possibly be of use in the module currently
-being compiled, in the interests of efficiency. (Perhaps we should
-change that decision, at least for <literal>Main</literal>.)
-</para>
+Because overlaps are checked and reported lazily, as described above, you need
+the <option>-fallow-overlapping-instances</option> in the module that <emphasis>calls</emphasis>
+the overloaded function, rather than in the module that <emphasis>defines</emphasis> it.</para>
+
</sect3>
<sect3>
<sect2 id="implicit-parameters">
<title>Implicit parameters</title>
-<para> Implicit paramters are implemented as described in
+<para> Implicit parameters are implemented as described in
"Implicit parameters: dynamic scoping with static types",
J Lewis, MB Shields, E Meijer, J Launchbury,
27th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL'00),
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem> <para> distributing a supply of unique names </para> </listitem>
-<listitem> <para> distributing a suppply of random numbers </para> </listitem>
+<listitem> <para> distributing a supply of random numbers </para> </listitem>
<listitem> <para> distributing an oracle (as in QuickCheck) </para> </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
The functions <literal>f2</literal> and <literal>g2</literal> have rank-2 types;
-the <literal>forall</literal> is on the left of a function arrrow. As <literal>g2</literal>
+the <literal>forall</literal> is on the left of a function arrow. As <literal>g2</literal>
shows, the polymorphic type on the left of the function arrow can be overloaded.
</para>
<para>
<title>Type inference</title>
<para>
-In general, type inference for arbitrary-rank types is undecideable.
+In general, type inference for arbitrary-rank types is undecidable.
GHC uses an algorithm proposed by Odersky and Laufer ("Putting type annotations to work", POPL'96)
to get a decidable algorithm by requiring some help from the programmer.
We do not yet have a formal specification of "some help" but the rule is this:
</title>
<para>
-A <emphasis>pattern type signature</emphasis> can introduce a <emphasis>scoped type
-variable</emphasis>. For example
-</para>
-
-<para>
-
+A <emphasis>lexically scoped type variable</emphasis> can be bound by:
+<itemizedlist>
+<listitem><para>A declaration type signature (<xref linkend="decl-type-sigs"/>)</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>A pattern type signature (<xref linkend="pattern-type-sigs"/>)</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>A result type signature (<xref linkend="result-type-sigs"/>)</para></listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
+For example:
<programlisting>
f (xs::[a]) = ys ++ ys
where
ys :: [a]
ys = reverse xs
</programlisting>
-
-</para>
-
-<para>
The pattern <literal>(xs::[a])</literal> includes a type signature for <varname>xs</varname>.
This brings the type variable <literal>a</literal> into scope; it scopes over
all the patterns and right hand sides for this equation for <function>f</function>.
</para>
<para>
- Pattern type signatures are completely orthogonal to ordinary, separate
-type signatures. The two can be used independently or together.
At ordinary type signatures, such as that for <varname>ys</varname>, any type variables
mentioned in the type signature <emphasis>that are not in scope</emphasis> are
implicitly universally quantified. (If there are no type variables in
</para>
<sect3>
-<title>What a pattern type signature means</title>
+<title>What a scoped type variable means</title>
<para>
-A type variable brought into scope by a pattern type signature is simply
-the name for a type. The restriction they express is that all occurrences
+A lexically-scoped type variable is simply
+the name for a type. The restriction it expresses is that all occurrences
of the same name mean the same type. For example:
<programlisting>
f :: [Int] -> Int -> Int
</sect3>
-<sect3>
+<sect3 id="decl-type-sigs">
+<title>Declaration type signatures</title>
+<para>A declaration type signature that has <emphasis>explicit</emphasis>
+quantification (using <literal>forall</literal>) brings into scope the
+explicitly-quantified
+type variables, in the definition of the named function(s). For example:
+<programlisting>
+ f :: forall a. [a] -> [a]
+ f (x:xs) = xs ++ [ x :: a ]
+</programlisting>
+The "<literal>forall a</literal>" brings "<literal>a</literal>" into scope in
+the definition of "<literal>f</literal>".
+</para>
+<para>This only happens if the quantification in <literal>f</literal>'s type
+signature is explicit. For example:
+<programlisting>
+ g :: [a] -> [a]
+ g (x:xs) = xs ++ [ x :: a ]
+</programlisting>
+This program will be rejected, because "<literal>a</literal>" does not scope
+over the definition of "<literal>f</literal>", so "<literal>x::a</literal>"
+means "<literal>x::forall a. a</literal>" by Haskell's usual implicit
+quantification rules.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3 id="pattern-type-sigs">
<title>Where a pattern type signature can occur</title>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
A pattern type signature can be on an arbitrary sub-pattern, not
-ust on a variable:
+just on a variable:
<programlisting>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+<para>Pattern type signatures are completely orthogonal to ordinary, separate
+type signatures. The two can be used independently or together.</para>
</sect3>
-<sect3>
+<sect3 id="result-type-sigs">
<title>Result type signatures</title>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Data type declarations have a 'where' form, as exemplified above. The type signature of
-each constructor is independent, and is implicitly univerally quantified as usual. Unlike a normal
+each constructor is independent, and is implicitly universally quantified as usual. Unlike a normal
Haskell data type declaration, the type variable(s) in the "<literal>data Term a where</literal>" header
have no scope. Indeed, one can write a kind signature instead:
<programlisting>
-- you intend to use it.
-- Import some Template Haskell syntax
-import Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax
+import Language.Haskell.TH
-- Describe a format string
data Format = D | S | L String
{-# DEPRECATED f, C, T "Don't use these" #-}
</programlisting>
<para>When you compile any module that imports and uses any
- of the specifed entities, GHC will print the specified
+ of the specified entities, GHC will print the specified
message.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<option>-fno-warn-deprecations</option>.</para>
</sect2>
+ <sect2 id="include-pragma">
+ <title>INCLUDE pragma</title>
+
+ <para>The <literal>INCLUDE</literal> pragma is for specifying the names
+ of C header files that should be <literal>#include</literal>'d into
+ the C source code generated by the compiler for the current module (if
+ compiling via C). For example:</para>
+
+<programlisting>
+{-# INCLUDE "foo.h" #-}
+{-# INCLUDE <stdio.h> #-}</programlisting>
+
+ <para>The <literal>INCLUDE</literal> pragma(s) must appear at the top of
+ your source file with any <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal>
+ pragma(s).</para>
+
+ <para>An <literal>INCLUDE</literal> pragma is the preferred alternative
+ to the <option>-#include</option> option (<xref
+ linkend="options-C-compiler" />), because the
+ <literal>INCLUDE</literal> pragma is understood by other
+ compilers. Yet another alternative is to add the include file to each
+ <literal>foreign import</literal> declaration in your code, but we
+ don't recommend using this approach with GHC.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
<sect2 id="inline-noinline-pragma">
<title>INLINE and NOINLINE pragmas</title>
The normal unfolding machinery will then be very keen to
inline it.</para>
- <para>Syntactially, an <literal>INLINE</literal> pragma for a
+ <para>Syntactically, an <literal>INLINE</literal> pragma for a
function can be put anywhere its type signature could be
put.</para>
number</emphasis>; the phase number decreases towards zero.
If you use <option>-dverbose-core2core</option> you'll see the
sequence of phase numbers for successive runs of the
- simpifier. In an INLINE pragma you can optionally specify a
+ simplifier. In an INLINE pragma you can optionally specify a
phase number, thus:</para>
<itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="options-pragma">
- <title>OPTIONS pragma</title>
- <indexterm><primary>OPTIONS</primary>
+ <title>OPTIONS_GHC pragma</title>
+ <indexterm><primary>OPTIONS_GHC</primary>
</indexterm>
- <indexterm><primary>pragma</primary><secondary>OPTIONS</secondary>
+ <indexterm><primary>pragma</primary><secondary>OPTIONS_GHC</secondary>
</indexterm>
- <para>The <literal>OPTIONS</literal> pragma is used to specify
+ <para>The <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal> pragma is used to specify
additional options that are given to the compiler when compiling
this source file. See <xref linkend="source-file-options"/> for
details.</para>
+
+ <para>Previous versions of GHC accepted <literal>OPTIONS</literal> rather
+ than <literal>OPTIONS_GHC</literal>, but that is now deprecated.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="rules">
<sect1 id="rewrite-rules">
<title>Rewrite rules
-<indexterm><primary>RULES pagma</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>RULES pragma</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>pragma, RULES</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>rewrite rules</primary></indexterm></title>
<para>
GHC makes absolutely no attempt to verify that the LHS and RHS
-of a rule have the same meaning. That is undecideable in general, and
+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!
</para>
for matching a rule LHS with an expression. It seeks a substitution
which makes the LHS and expression syntactically equal modulo alpha
conversion. The pattern (rule), but not the expression, is eta-expanded if
-necessary. (Eta-expanding the epression can lead to laziness bugs.)
+necessary. (Eta-expanding the expression can lead to laziness bugs.)
But not beta conversion (that's called higher-order matching).
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- The defintion of (say) <function>build</function> in <filename>GHC/Base.lhs</filename> looks llike this:
+ The definition of (say) <function>build</function> in <filename>GHC/Base.lhs</filename> looks llike this:
<programlisting>
build :: forall a. (forall b. (a -> b -> b) -> b -> b) -> [a]
f x = ({-# CORE "foo" #-} show) ({-# CORE "bar" #-} x)
</programlisting>
- Sematically, this is equivalent to:
+ Semantically, this is equivalent to:
<programlisting>
g x = show x