[Haskell-cafe] Proposal: Shorter Import Syntax

[Alexander Kjeldaas]

On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 10:26 AM, Vlatko Basic <vlatko.basic at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Maybe a slightly changed syntax like this could be less confusing
>
>
> import Data.Map (Map) andAs M (...)
>
> or
>
> import Data.Map (Map) and as M (...)
>
>
> It is clear (IMHO) what is coming from where, and both lists are at the
> end of their part, so can be written nicely in several rows, if needed.
>
>
> import Data.Map (Map)
>  andAs M (lengthy,
>           list)
>
> Parser can also easily distinguish between the current and the new syntax
> so they can coexist, so no backward compatibility problem.
>
>

I much prefer a syntax with a bit more words, like this one.  The original
proposal is simply impossible to understand without reading a manual.  It
has at least two equally valid interpretations.

Adding one or two words like in this examples makes it possible, without
reading a manual, to distinguish between possible interpretations.  I think
that must be a minimal requirement for such a syntax extension.  Nobody
needs to hire a language lawyer to understand a python import statement.
That shouldn't be needed for Haskell either.

Alexander
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