[Haskell-cafe] Language complexity & beginners (Was: New type of ($) operator in GHC 8.0 is problematic)

[Michael Orlitzky]

On 02/08/2016 06:54 PM, Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:
> 
> Wait, those were grouping parentheses, not application ones.
> According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_function_concept
> something explicit resembling modern ideas of a "function" appeared
> in the 17th century, so THAT's when time began.
> 
> I always wondered.
> 

I was referring to grouping parentheses. Most uses of "$" are for stupid
things like "sin $ 1 + 2" where parentheses would be much more clear. By
"beginning of time" I thought it was clear I meant "I don't feel like
looking it up," but thanks -- we now know that people have been using
parentheses about 400 years longer than "$" for grouping.