[Haskell-cafe] 1 = 0?

[Alexey Muranov]

On Tuesday, June 17, 2014 1:08:45 PM UTC+2, Brent Yorgey wrote:

The general syntax of assignments is 
>
>   pattern = expression 
>
> One most often uses a pattern consisting of a single variable, but any 
> pattern will do.  (For example, try writing [x,y,z] = [1,2,3] as a 
> top-level declaration and see what happens!)  1 is a pattern which 
> matches the number 1.  0 is obviously an expression.  Of course, the 
> pattern 1 does not match the expression 0.  However, binding is lazy: 
> for example, writing [x,y] = [1,2,3] does not in and of itself cause 
> an error; it will only cause an error if you try to use x or y. 
> However, since the pattern 1 contains no variables, there is no way to 
> ever force the pattern-matching to actually take place. 
>
> So 1 = 0 just sits there, sort of like an ugly, angry dog who wants to 
> bite people except that it is locked in a cage with no door. 
> Occasionally people walking by look at it pityingly, but mostly no one 
> pays it any attention. 


Thanks for the detailed explanation, i think i've understood.

Alexey.
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