Because if you think of it as assignment, the fact that a <- [2] binds a to 2, rather than [2], makes no sense. edit: a better example (because it is more u

Because if you think of it as assignment, the fact that a <- [2] binds a to 2, rather than [2], makes no sense. edit: a better example (because it is more useful) would be: a <- Just 2 which, again, binds a to 2, unwrapping the Maybe monad in the process. (I forget what happens if you try to do a <- Nothing)