I agree that using head::tail is usually not more readable, though I think that sometimes it is better to be a bit more descriptive than just x::xs (e.g. key::k

I agree that using head::tail is usually not more readable, though I think that sometimes it is better to be a bit more descriptive than just x::xs (e.g. key::keys). It really depends on the context as well as the experience level of the people who will be reading the code. It is true that the order of files matters. Presumably this is for the same reason that order matters within a file.