Hi Simon,
| Will's implementation was all written in Perl, and it didn't really catch
| on, so in truth no one (not even us) really uses it. But the idea was
| right, and I hate to see him maligned!
I'm sorry that you interpreted my comments as a criticism of Will. In case
anyone else had the same impression (especially Will, if you're reading!),
let me assure you that wasn't what I meant: nothing was further from my mind!
My gripe is with the adoption of multiple conventions *in the language
standard* when just one or two would have sufficed. The alternative?
If a given user's preference doesn't match whatever the language standard
specifies, then they use simple tools to perform appropriate conversions.
The real problem with \begin{code}...\end{code} is that it was added
to a language that already had other alternatives. In fact, as Olaf
has pointed out, the {- ... -} could also be used to support literate
programming. (Look at Java's /** documentation comments */.)
In my opinion, the profusion of commenting conventions in Haskell
(and, while we're at it, the choice between implicit and explicit
layout, to open another can of worms) make things more complicated
and confusing than they need to be. This, I think, is more a lesson
for the future, than a criticism of the past.
All the best,
Mark
