[Haskell-cafe] an idea for modifiyng data/newtype syntax: use `::=` instead of `=`

[Kosyrev Serge]

Will Yager <will.yager at gmail.com> writes:
> Obviously a change like this would be horribly destructive to existing code, and
> for relatively little benefit.

Hidden behind a pragma -- is it really that horribly destructive? 

> There are much larger barriers to understanding Haskell than syntactic
> trivia like the one mentioned here.

Barriers exist at every level of mastery -- the ones that matter are
those present at the exact point of one's progression.

It is, of course, true that at some point the little awkwardness exits the
picture completely -- but for any point of time, there always will be
a nontrivial set of people thinking to themselves -- "what the heck?!".

> It is worth asking, then, if we should record these small aesthetic suggestions
> somewhere for consideration while designing the next major compatibility-breaking
> release of the Haskell specification (Haskell 2020 or what have you).

Now this is exactly the kind of assessment that I have been hoping to hear!

And the idea is that, before the next release of the language
specification, it is possible to experiment with the keyword hidden
behind the pragma -- and should the result prove satisfactory, all that
remains to do is to lift the pragma requirement.

Maybe a unified playground for such tweaks -- XNewSyntax, for example.

Or do people suggest, that it should somehow suddenly materialise in the
next release of the specification, without touching any staging ground?

-- 
respectfully,
Косырев Серёга
--
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane
 by those who could not hear the music.”
 – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche