[Haskell-cafe] Re: Would someone explain this code to me?

[Matthew Brecknell]

> > What I don't understand is his use of the "T" constructor, both at
> > 
> >     insertSet x s = T B a y b
> 
> Here it creates a new RedBlackSet
> 
> > and in the where statement:
> > 
> >             T _ a y b = ins s
> 
> Here it's a pattern match. So if ins s returns (T x a' y'
> b'), then a = a'; y = y'; b = b' are used in the expresion
> covered by the where clause.

If you're wondering how the compiler tells the difference, have a look
at section 2.4 of the Haskell 98 Report (Identifiers and Operators).
Roughly, an identifier beginning with a lowercase letter or underscore
must be a variable identifier, while an identifier beginning with an
uppercase letter must be a constructor identifier.

In other words, the second example above cannot be the definition of a
function called "T", because "T" cannot be the name of a function.