[Haskell-beginners] question regarding standard libraries

[Jake Penton]

I have a couple of questions about "standard libraries" as referred to in the Haskell 98 and 2010 reports.

First, is there anything to infer from the use of the term "libraries"? What I see documented in the reports is a set of modules. Is this just a loose usage of the term libraries to mean a set of modules implemented somehow or other?

Second, although I have only perused the 98 and 2010 reports briefly, what "standard" means in this context does not stand out for me. Part II of the 2010 report jumps right into the description of Control.Monad with no mention of the relationship of Part II to the rest of the report. Are the documented modules part of the language?

Third, as I am learning Haskell by studying Real World Haskell I note that several of the modules discussed therein are not listed in the Haskell 2010 report. A notable example is Data.Map. What is the status of such modules? Are they just (maybe) available in particular implementations, or in privately donated packages? 

Finally, is there a good way to track changes in the implementation of various modules, whether "standard" or otherwise? For example I discover that Data.Map.lookup has changed (in ghc anyway) since RWH was written. Is this change agreed upon somewhere, or is it just dependent on whatever happens to be delivered with the Haskell implementation that I use?

Thank heaven for a beginner's mailing list where I can ask dumb questions. And thanks in advance once again for your kind efforts to help me out.

- J -
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