argument ordering (was: Re: Priority Queues, or lack thereof)

[Okasaki, C. DR EECS]

David Roundy wrote: 
>> This style supports multiple operations nicely, especially with
combined
>> with the $ operator.  For example, to insert 3 elements into a set,
you
>> can say
>>     insert 1 $ insert 2 $ insert 3 $ someSet
>> (the last $ is optional).  With the other argument ordering, you
would
>> say
>>     insert (insert (insert someSet 3) 2) 1
>
> With this ordering, couldn't one simply write
>
> someSet `insert` 3 `insert` 2 `insert` 1
>
> ?

Sure, although I'll admit that I have an aversion to the backquote style
of infix operators.

The bigger problem with this style is what to do about non-binary
operations.  For example, insert for a dictionary takes three arguments.
So you could write

   insert 1 a $ insert 2 b $ insert 3 c dict

but not

   dict `insert` 1 a `insert` 2 b `insert' 3 c

Of course, you could potentially package some arguments in a tuple

   dict `insert` (1,a) `insert` (2,b) `insert` (3,c)

but having some arguments in tuples has its own problems.

-- Chris