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> The source is free, so it's a great way to see what Haskell looks like when used for large applications in the hands of experts. I tend to disagree with this

> The source is free, so it's a great way to see what Haskell looks like when used for large applications in the hands of experts. I tend to disagree with this. Yes, GHC is a large application and most certainly developed by experts, but it's also a project with a very long history, whilst Haskell (language, extension, conventions,...) have changed over the years, and this shows in several places. Next to that, GHC code isn't very idiomatic at times (e.g. for performance reasons, or because it can't depend on too many external high-level libraries).

orclev 13y ago
Since GHC is bootstrapped by a lower stage compiler I'd imagine there are some limitations to what kinds of language features at least parts of it can use as well. I haven't looked into all the details, but last time I did look into building GHC from scratch I remember there being an initial step where you built an initial minimal Haskell compiler that was written in I think C--, and then used that to build the rest of GHC.