[Haskell-cafe] Re: data vs newtype

[ChrisK]

Jonathan Cast wrote:
> So there is a program (or, rather, type) you can write with newtype that
> can't be written with data:
> 
> newtype T = T T

That compiles, and anything of type T is ⊥.  But it breaks my mental model of
what the compiler does for newtypes.  I always think of them as differently
typed versions that share the same underlying "data" declaration and
representation; and then the compiler erases the type information.

So let me think about this one.  Looking at the Haskell 98 Report
http://www.haskell.org/onlinereport/decls.html#sect4.2.3

"A declaration of the form
newtype cx => T u1 ... uk = N t
introduces a new type whose representation is the same as an existing type. The
type (T u1 ... uk) renames the datatype t. It differs from a type synonym in
that it creates a distinct type that must be explicitly coerced to or from the
original type"

What I don't see is anything that discusses what "newtype T = T T" could mean.

Is there any difference in how GHC treats "newtype T = T T" versus "data T"?

-- 
Chris