[ghc-steering-committee] RecordDotSyntax: please express a view

[Richard Eisenberg]

Thanks for your comments!

> On Dec 10, 2019, at 2:54 PM, Christopher Allen <cma at bitemyapp.com> wrote:
> 
> This proposal should be rejected.
> 
> The contention over what whitespace around the dot operator should
> make it clear that even expert Haskellers aren't sure what to expect
> from this proposal in an intuitive way.

Then there is an easy solution: just don't allow unparenthesized .foo -- that is, make it a parse error. I don't think there is any contention over what (.foo) should mean, and if plain .foo is a parse error, then there is no fork.

> You can achieve the same with
> libraries now.

True -- but at significant cost, both in the effort to learn the (complex) libraries and in the need for Template Haskell, which cannot be used in cross-compilation, for example. I think the warm reception of this proposal suggests that, despite the library-based solution, something more is wanted.

> That the existing extensions aren't as useful as they
> ought as compared with using a lens library is symptomatic of
> half-baked proposals being incorporated into GHC.

I'm curious which proposals you're thinking of here. The strangest one, I think, is DisambiguateRecordFields. That was added before the proposals process. I don't think it would have survived the current process -- at least, not in the form in which it has appeared. I would welcome exploring ways of removing it.

> 
> We can wait until the juice is worth the squeeze and avoid an unforced
> error here.

This is tempting. But I worry that this may be the best we get, and I think inaction is hurting us.

Richard

> 
> On Mon, Dec 9, 2019 at 4:58 PM Simon Peyton Jones via
> ghc-steering-committee <ghc-steering-committee at haskell.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear steering committee
>> 
>> I'm the shepherd for the RecordDotSyntax proposal.
>>  https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/282
>> 
>> I recommend acceptance:
>> https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/282#issuecomment-563477691
>> 
>> Please reads the proposal, and as much of the discussion as you feel able, and respond in the next week or two to indicate your views.
>> 
>> Remember: ask technical questions on the Github discussion thread, and use this mailing list for more evaluative discussion of judgement or opinion.
>> 
>> I'd love every member of the committee to express a view.  This proposal has attracted a lot of interest.
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> Simon
>> 
>> | -----Original Message-----
>> | From: ghc-steering-committee <ghc-steering-committee-bounces at haskell.org>
>> | On Behalf Of Joachim Breitner
>> | Sent: 28 November 2019 10:11
>> | To: ghc-steering-committee at haskell.org
>> | Subject: [EXTERNAL] [ghc-steering-committee] Please review #282:
>> | RecordDotSyntax, Shepherd: Simon PJ
>> |
>> | Dear Committee,
>> |
>> | this is your secretary speaking:
>> |
>> | RecordDotSyntax language extension proposal has been proposed by Neil
>> | Mitchell and Shayne Fletcher
>> | https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/282
>> | https://github.com/shayne-fletcher-da/ghc-proposals/blob/record-dot-
>> | syntax/proposals/0000-record-dot-syntax.md
>> |
>> | This is going to be a tricky one. It is partly about whitespace, so it
>> | has attracted a _lot_ of community interest, by far the most so far. To
>> | navigate that ship, I propose Simon PJ as the shepherd, because he is a
>> | excellent moderator and community manager, and because he has the
>> | necessary authority to hopefully get a verdict accepted.
>> |
>> | Please reach consensus as described in
>> | https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals#committee-process
>> | I suggest you make a recommendation, in a new e-mail thread with the
>> | proposal number in the subject, about the decision, maybe point out
>> | debatable points, and assume that anyone who stays quiet agrees with you.
>> |
>> | Thanks,
>> | Joachim
>> | --
>> | Joachim Breitner
>> |   mail at joachim-breitner.de
>> |   http://www.joachim-breitner.de/
>> |
>> | _______________________________________________
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>> | ghc-steering-committee at haskell.org
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Chris Allen
> Currently working on http://haskellbook.com
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