Proposal: add a non-recursive let to the Haskell language. In
let' p = e in e'
do { ... let' p = e ... }
the variables of pattern p are then *not* in scope in e.
Reasons for adding a non-recursive let:
1. recursive-let is the source for many non-termination bugs.
An instance of such a bug is in the state monad of mtl-2.1 (forgive me,
Edward, for quoting this again):
http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/mtl/2.1/doc/html/src/Control-Monad-State-Class.html#state
state :: (s -> (a, s)) -> m a
state f = do
s <- get
let ~(a, s) = f s
put s
return a
here, a non-recursive let was meant, the s bound by the let was supposed
to be a new state, shadowing the old state. However, since let is
recursive, this actually causes a loop.
Another instance (cut-down) are let-guards like
let Just x | x > 0 = e in x
The "x > 0" is understood as an assertion here, documenting an
invariant. However, Haskell reads this as
let Just x = case () of { () | x > 0 -> e } in x
leading to non-termination. A non-recursive version
let' Just x | x > 0 = e in x
could be interpreted as
case e of { Just x | x > 0 -> x }
instead, which is meaningful (in contrast to the current interpretation).
2. Connected to 1., a non-recursive let allows for painless shadowing.
For instance, the hack
do ...
x <- return $ f x
exploiting non-recursiveness of the <- binding, would be unnecessary,
instead we could write
do ...
let' x = f x
NB: In a do-Block, we could drop the keyword let' and simply write
do ...
x = f x
for a non-monadic binding, in accordance to x <- mf x,
See also
http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/beginners/2009-February/001075.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8398607/declaration-order-in-let-bindings-haskell-vs-ocaml
PS.: I can work out the details of grammar and semantics if this
proposal finds followers.
Cheers,
Andreas
--
Andreas Abel <>< Du bist der geliebte Mensch.
Theoretical Computer Science, University of Munich
Oettingenstr. 67, D-80538 Munich, GERMANY
andreas.a...@ifi.lmu.de
http://www2.tcs.ifi.lmu.de/~abel/
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