[Haskell-cafe] Wish list for GHC API tooling support

[Simon Peyton Jones]

Based on my experiences with HaRe, I have started putting together a wish list of features I would like to see in it, which is here https://github.com/fpco/haskell-ide/wiki/GHC-API
Just to say: I really support having this discussion.  The GHC API is not driven enough by the needs of its clients.

I think that a client can actually access pretty much any function inside GHC, so no wonder the API feels unstable!  Steps forward might be:

·         Be very clear which functions are part of the official API. I think it’s the ones exported by GHC.lhs

·         Review them to check they all make sense

·         Add good Haddock documentation for each of them

·         Make sure that each is marked, at its definition site, as part of the GHC API.  At the moment it is far from clear when one is modifying a function that is part of the GHC API, since most of these functions aren’t in GHC.lhs

I’m happy to help, but not as a driving force.

Thanks!

Simon

From: Haskell-Cafe [mailto:haskell-cafe-bounces at haskell.org] On Behalf Of Alan & Kim Zimmerman
Sent: 18 August 2014 09:06
To: haskell
Subject: [Haskell-cafe] Wish list for GHC API tooling support

At the moment the GHC API is a sort of poor relation in the haskell world, where it could be a significantly useful resource for the growing list of haskell tool providers.
Based on my experiences with HaRe, I have started putting together a wish list of features I would like to see in it, which is here https://github.com/fpco/haskell-ide/wiki/GHC-API
I welcome feedback / discussion on this.

Regards
  Alan

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