[Haskell-cafe] [Haskell] Re: Global Variables and IO initializers

[George Russell]

 > This is funny. When I got no immediate reaction from you, I started
 > implementing it myself. I ended up with something similar. It has less
 > features but is also a lot simpler. This is the interface:
 >
 > initGlobal :: Typeable a => a -> IO ()
 > getGlobal :: Typeable a => IO a

Your implementation is probably much simpler than mine because you don't
implement withEmptyDict.  I'm really quite keen about withEmptyDict, because
one of the MAJOR conceptual problems I have with unsafePerformIO global variables
is that you only get one universe, corresponding to the Haskell program.
There shouldn't really be a single "the Haskell program" anyway; imagine something
like GHC or an operating system written in Haskell which run sub-systems which
require their own global variables.  Or imagine a program split between lots of
processors where, for efficiency reasons, you don't want everyone to have to refer
to the same set of global variables.o

 > Storing (TypeRep,Dynamic) pairs is redundant, since Dynamics already
 > contain their own TypeRep (that is how they are made to work).

It is, but I'm not sure if it can be avoided without using stuff not in
the standard libraries.

 > I also use a list for the dictionary; and I share your view about
 > TypeRep badly needing an Ord instance (probably trivial to provide
 > but I could be wrong).

Even better would be a hashable integer.  TypeRep actually is implemented
internally on GHC using a hashcons'd unique integer, so exposing it should be
trivial ...