[Haskell-cafe] Re: Error message reform (was: Strange type error with associated type synonyms)

[Alexander Dunlap]

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 3:24 PM, Bulat Ziganshin
<bulat.ziganshin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Max,
>
> Thursday, May 28, 2009, 2:14:19 AM, you wrote:
>
>>> I absolutely agree about expected/inferred. I always forget which is
>>> which, because I can figure both could apply to each.
>
>> That's actually true for me too. When you say it like that, I remember
>> times when I've had the same confusion.
>
> it's why i asked beginners. it seems that we all go through times
> when ghc errmsgs looks cryptic but then we start to live with it and
> forget the first period
>
> actually, i don't have much problems with errrmsgs now, but trying to
> grok how i interpret them i've found that i mainly use *position*
> part of message, it's enough for me most times :)
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  Bulat                            mailto:Bulat.Ziganshin at gmail.com
>

Hi,

I like the "expected/inferred" vocabulary. Maybe it comes from being a
native English speaker, but to me, it says "this is what we expected
to get, but instead (through type inference), we got this type for
this term".

Of course, I've also been reading GHC error messages for a while, so
I've gotten used to understanding what they mean. When I was new, I
had more of a problem...but I'm not sure you can really eliminate
that. Everything takes practice. :)

Alex