constant space `minimum'

[Serge D. Mechveliani]

Simon Marlow  responds on the subject of constant space `minimum':


> In 6.4, minimum & maximum will have specialised versions for Int &
> Integer, which will run in constant stack space.  We can't do this in
> general, because minimum/maximum have the type
>
>  (Ord a) =3D> [a] -> a
>
> and we can't assume that the comparison operations for any given type
> are always strict.
>

I meant that the implementation like

             minimum [x]      = x
             minimum (x:y:xs) = if x > y then minimum (y:xs) 
                                else          minimum (x:xs) 

is correct, and on the other hand, GHC compiles it more readily
into an efficient code than the version done via  foldl  or such.

-----------------
Serge Mechveliani
mechel at botik.ru