[Haskell-cafe] Re: accessible layout proposal?

[Stefan Monnier]

> http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Accessible_layout_proposal

I see two main problems with such a proposal (other than the particular
details of the syntax chosen for it):
- layout is not very well supported by most of the text editors,
  contrary to parens/brackets/braces.
- more importantly: it introduces a new syntax that doesn't replace the
  old one, so it makes the language more complex.  Compare that with the
  layout for `do', `let', `where' and `case' which is fine because it's
  used 99% of the time and the alternative syntax is the same for each
  one of them (simply add {;;;}).

So I'd be OK with a switch from

    data foo = Toto | Tata Int | Titi
to
    data foo = { Toto ; Tata Int ; Titi }
and
    data foo =
        Toto
        Tata Int
        Titi

and similarly for module import lists, but only if it comes with
a deprecation of the current syntax.


        Stefan