Currently you can deal with strictness using Bang Patterns. The addition of Strict and StrictData with -XStrict simply lets module writers cut down on that nois

Currently you can deal with strictness using Bang Patterns. The addition of Strict and StrictData with -XStrict simply lets module writers cut down on that noise and communicates intent. It isn't meant to change or split the language Haskell in two; except for testing, you probably wouldn't go enabling it everywhere just 'cause. More info on strictness and Bang Patterns: https://wiki.haskell.org/Performance/Strictness#Explicit_strictness https://wiki.haskell.org/Performance/Strictness#Explicit_str... This was posted to r/haskell today and helps explain things a bit: http://blog.johantibell.com/2015/11/the-design-of-strict-haskell-pragma.html http://blog.johantibell.com/2015/11/the-design-of-strict-has...