[Haskell-cafe] Defining a Strict language pragma

[Jan-Willem Maessen]

On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 5:52 PM, Johan Tibell <johan.tibell at gmail.com> wrote:

> The tricky part is to define the semantics of this pragma in terms of
> Haskell, instead of in terms of Core. While we also need the latter, we
> cannot describe the feature to users in terms of Core. The hard part is to
> precisely define the semantics, especially in the presence of separate
> compilation (i.e. we might import lazy functions).
>
> I'd like to get the Haskell communities input on this. Here's a strawman:
>
>  * Every function application f _|_ = _|_, if f is defined in this module
> [1]. This also applies to data type constructors (i.e. the code acts if all
> fields are preceded by a bang).
>
>  * lets and where clauses act like (strict) case statements.
>

What ordering constraints will exist on let and where clauses?  Is the
compiler free to re-order them in dependency order?

Must they be strictly evaluated in the context in which they occur?
 Haskell syntax readily lends itself to a style a bit like this:

f x y z
  | p x = ... a ... b
  | q y = ... a ... c
  | otherwise = ... d ...
  where a = ...
              b = ...
              c = ...
              d = ...

This tripped us up a lot in pH and Eager Haskell, where we at least wanted
to be able to float d inwards and where it was sometimes surprising and
costly if we missed the opportunity.  But that changes the semantics if d =
_|_.  It's even worse if d = _|_ exactly when p x || q y.

Part of the answer, I'm sure, is "don't do that", but it might mean some
code ends up surprisingly less readable than you'd expect.

 * It's still possible to define strict arguments, using "~". In essence
> the Haskell lazy-by-default with opt-out via "!" is replaced with
> strict-by-default with opt-out via "~".
>
> Thoughts?
>

I found myself wondering about free variables of lambdas, but realized that
would be handled at the point where those variables are bound (the binding
will either be strict or lazy).

-Jan
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