[Haskell-cafe] A brief note on n_k patterns and Hackage

[Richard O'Keefe]

On 5 May 2009, at 8:30 pm, Magnus Therning wrote:

> On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 1:04 AM, Richard O'Keefe <ok at cs.otago.ac.nz>  
> wrote:
>> I never really understood why it was thought to be relevant,
>> but I was challenged to show that n+k patterns occurred in
>> Hackage.
>
> Why is it relevant?

Some people think that the popularity of a feature in
an openly accessible collection of Haskell sources is
relevant to whether it should continue to be supported,
in a way that, say, appearance in textbooks, utility
to beginners, and contribution to readability are not.
Apparently.

I don't understand this.  n+k patterns are the ONLY
Haskell98 feature scheduled for removal from Haskell'.