filepath

[Neil Mitchell]

Hi

> > I'm having some problems using filepath in GHC. [...]
>
> I'm sure this has been said before: using the type string
> to avoid an ADT is generally a bad idea.

It's been said loads of times before. However, at this point we've got
a FilePath library based on type FilePath = String in the base
libraries.

> There are well-established "file path" ADT designs,
> e.g. why don't we rather literally copy
> http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/File.html ?

I recommend someone actually implements one of these API's in Haskell
and uploads it to Hackage. For bonus points, take an existing Haskell
program and port its FilePath usage to your new library then try and
convince the author to accept a patch - if the result is a
cleaner/shorter code base you should have a chance.

Thanks

Neil