Unused variable warning affects compositionality when generating code

If I'm generating a program using template haskell, I might define a combinator to help me generate lambdas.

type Code a = Q (TExp a)

_lam :: (Code a -> Code b) -> Code (a -> b)
_lam f = [|| \a -> $$(f [|| a ||]) ||]

However, if I now pass a constant function into _lam, the generated code contains an unused variable a that I can do nothing about and desire not to do anything about.

c5 :: Code (a -> Int)
c5 = _lam (const [|| 5 ||])

However, GHC decides that it's wise to warn me about this when I splice it in.

> $$c5
F2.hs:6:5: warning: [-Wunused-matches] Defined but not used: ‘a’
  |
6 | q = $$c5
  |     ^^^

As Ryan will tell you, I'm against emitting warnings from generated code as it breaks the abstraction. The code that is generated is guaranteed to be type and scope correct but any aesthetic warning is irrelevant to the consumer.

I see it in precisely the same way as warning if we use a function that contains an unused variable in a library. Once the definition is exported from the library, its definition is opaque. The same principle should be applied to code generated by template haskell.

Trac metadata

Trac field	Value
Version	8.6.3
Type	Bug
TypeOfFailure	OtherFailure
Priority	normal
Resolution	Unresolved
Component	Compiler
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