[Haskell-beginners] variables in haskell

[Matthew J. Williams]

>>Hello listers, would one be correct in thinking that 'bound 
>>variables' such as those used in haskell were in fact constants?
>
>I think I see what you mean, but it is not entirely correct. A 
>constant is something which has the same value at all times. For 
>example, top-level declarations in most languages, including 
>Haskell, can be seen as constants:
>
>   foo = "hello world" -- this foo will always mean "hello world"
>
>If the value associated with a name changes from time to time, then 
>we call that name a variable.
>
>   bar foo = ... -- foo will mean something else everytime bar is called
>
>The behaviour of Haskell variables is similiar to "constant 
>variables" or "final variables" in other languages, e.g. in Java
>
>   public int bar(final int foo) {
>   }
>
>Similiar to the Haskell version, in this Java code, foo will be 
>something different for each call of bar, but it will not change 
>during one execution of bar. Your wouldn't call foo a constant here, would you?


         My recollection of 'final' in 'Java' is a little vague, 
nevertheless, in 'c/c++' the const keyword indicates that the 
associated function argument must be 'treated' as a constant. I am 
not convinced that the idea of a constant value is not being 
honored  in this situation. The function definition is after all a 
'pattern' (if I may be permitted to use the term in its most general sense):

         int f (const int x) {
                 return (x+1);
                 }

would be equivalent to the following:

         let f x = x+1

         In 'c/c++' a global constant would have very similar 
properties, in fact, exactly similar in so far as the 'immutability' 
of the value is concerned.

         Sincerely
         Matthew J. Williams