strict Haskell dialect

[Wolfgang Jeltsch]

Am Mittwoch, 1. Februar 2006 11:49 schrieb Bulat Ziganshin:
> [...]

> i had one idea, what is somewhat corresponding to his discussion:
>
> make a strict Haskell dialect. implement it by translating all
> expressions of form "f x" into "f $! x" and then going to the standard
> (lazy) haskell translator. the same for data fields - add to all field
> definitions "!" in translation process. then add to this strict
> Haskell language ability to _explicitly_ specify lazy fields and lazy
> evaluation, for example using this "~" sign
>
> what it will give? ability to use Haskell as powerful strict language,
> what is especially interesting for "real-world" programmers. i have
> found myself permanently fighting against the lazyness once i starting to
> optimize my programs. for the newcomers, it just will reduce learning
> path - they don't need to know anything about lazyness

Since laziness often allows you to solve problems so elegantly, I'm really 
scared of the idea of a "Strict Haskell"! :-(  Is laziness really so "unreal" 
that real-world programmers have to see it as an enemy which they have to 
fight against?

In fact, I was kind of shocked as I read in Simon Peyton Jones' presentation 
"Wearing the hair shirt" [1] that in his opinion "Lazyness doesn't really 
matter".

> [...]

Best wishes,
Wolfgang

[1] http://research.microsoft.com/Users/simonpj/papers/haskell-retrospective/