Bits instances for strict and lazy bytestrings

[andrewthad]

There is a well-defined Bits instance for bytestrings. Implementations for some of the functions, like shiftL and popCount, are not readily available but could be written. I would be willing to contribute this if the maintainers are interested.

[dcoutts]

Yes, I think this could be sensible. I guess it's a Bits instance in a similar way to how Integer is an instance right?

[andrewthad]

This recently was discussed on reddit. To my understanding, the instance as you describe it makes sense, but there are some arguments against it that, for lack of greater elaboration, I don't really understand. I'd like to wait and think a little more before I go further with this.

[ysangkok]

@andrewthad What did you conclude?

[andrewthad]

I concluded that this just isn't a very useful thing to do. Any time I wanted to do this, the type I really wanted to be working with was a 128-bit word or a 256-bit word. Fortunately, the wide-word library provides a good implementation of a 128-bit word, and I have very nearly added a 256-bit word data type to it. Closing.