[m-dev.] For review: minor additions to list.m and string.m

[Ralph Becket]

> From: Zoltan Somogyi [mailto:zs at cs.mu.OZ.AU]
> 
> With functions, the mode you want is the "func(in, ..., in) = 
> out is det"
> mode 99% of the time. With predicates, it is relatively rare 
> that the mode
> you want is "pred(in, in, ..., in) is semidet". Only about 15% of the
> predicates in the Mercury compiler are semidet, and many of 
> those, maybe
> most, have output arguments. So this default would have a 
> much higher chance
> of getting rid of an error message the programmer should get 
> but doesn't
> know he/she wants. I would estimate that these missing error 
> messages would
> reduce productivity by a larger amount than the absence of a 
> requirement
> to write down the mode would increase it.

Okay, I'm convinced.
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