layout rule infelicity

[Johannes Waldmann]

> What's the deal with the whole "layout" thing anyway? I've never come 
> across it before in another language.

Python has it as well (they stole it from Haskell?)

> If I were teaching Haskell to "working programmer" types like myself, I 
> would encourage them to always use full semicolons and braces ...

while we're at it - what's the deal with type inference?

sometimes I think it is *really bad* language design 
if the program may contain untyped declarations of identifiers.

ghc -Wall warns nicely about undeclared top-level types but what about locals? 
I've never came across a language that would allow them declared untyped.

of course I know (some of) the `academic' background
(type inference, type checking) but what about it
from a software engineering point of view?


\end{rant} 

.. I think neither the layout rule nor  type inferencing
are likely to disappear from Haskell ..
-- 
-- Johannes Waldmann ---- http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~joe/ --
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