ANNOUNCE: GHC 7.4.1 Release Candidate 1

[Lauri Alanko]

Quoting "Wolfgang Jeltsch" <g9ks157k at acme.softbase.org>:

> Am Mittwoch, den 28.12.2011, 12:48 +0000 schrieb Simon Peyton-Jones:
>> Only that BOX is a sort (currently the one and only sort), whereas
>> Constraint is a kind.  I'm not sure that BOX should ever be displayed
>> to users.
>
> Okay, this makes sense then. However, note that the GHC User’s manual
> mixes the terminology (“kind” vs. “sort”) at one point:
>
>     Note that List, for instance, does not get kind BOX -> BOX, because
>     we do not further classify kinds; all kinds have sort BOX.

> I think, it should say “sort BOX -> BOX”.

I don't think that would be quite correct. Sorts are typically  
constants, and there are usually a finite amount of them, each  
presenting a "level" of the type system. For instance, * and BOX are  
both sorts, even though we also have * :: BOX. In a system where BOX  
-> BOX would be well-formed, it should probably be called something  
else, maybe "kind-classifying term" (whose sort would be something  
new, maybe TRIANGLE).

But it seems a bit funny to spend a lot of time thinking about what to  
call things that don't exist in GHC. Maybe it'd be easiest to just  
drop that awkward hypothetical "BOX -> BOX" altogether from the manual.


Lauri