Syntax for implicit parameters

[Mark P Jones]

| Marcin Kowalczyk (qrczak@knm.org.pl) writes:
| > I would like to replace "with" and "dlet" with "let". But SimonPJ
| > said he won't do it in ghc unless Hugs does it too, and Mark P Jones
| > said he won't do it in Hugs now (without deep reasons: no
| > people/hours to do that, and no plans to release next Hugs version
| > this year).
|=20
| I'd really, really like to see a fresh release of Hugs ...

Noticing that Alastair listed my email address in his message, and
that Marcin "called me by name" in his comments above, I think it's
time for a gentle reminder: I don't work on Hugs any more!

In fact, as I announced at the time, I stopped working on Hugs in
January 2000.  After working on it for almost a decade, I figured
that it was time for me to move on.  That decision was not easy,
in part because of the time and energy that I have invested in
its development; because of the pleasure that your success stories
bring; and because of the dissappointment that I feel when I hear
from people who are frustrated by its limitations and weaknesses.
I am astonished, quite frankly, that Hugs is still in widespread
use today.  I never expected it to last this long, or to have come
along quite so far.  And yet, of course, it is still lacking in many
ways.  But the system has acquired a life of its own, and no longer
reflects my views, needs, or efforts as it once did.

I still retain an interest in Haskell, and (for now at least)
I continue to read (and sometimes reply to) messages on the Hugs
mailing lists.  And I do talk to Johan quite frequently about Hugs;
after all, his office is just a few doors away from mine.  (Johan
is the current maintainer of Hugs, although I sometimes think people
don't realize that it's only a small part of his work, and not a
full-time activity.)  I don't/won't/can't control Hugs as Marcin
suggests so it's not up to me to decide whether a change gets made
... nor am I the one that will make any changes.

[Incidentally, if I did control Hugs, I wouldn't make the suggested
change to "dlet"/"with" at this point.  Marcin says I have no "deep
reasons" ... Hmm, I don't know about "deep", but I do have reasons
for this, both technical and pragmatic.  But I'm not going to go into
detail because I don't think it will serve any useful purpose, and
because, if I'm going to let go, then I really do have to let go ...]

Please do with Hugs as you all see fit!  Its future is in your hands
now, not mine!  I hope you'll all have fun with it!

All the best,
Mark