> since haskell is non-strict, if can be implemented as a function, and iirc it is

"If" can be implemented as a function in Haskell, but it's not a function. You can't pass it as a higher-order function and it uses the "then" and "else" keywords, too. But you could implement it as a function if you wanted:

  if' :: Bool -> a -> a
  if' True x _ = x
  if' False _ y = y

Then instead of writing something like this:

  max x y = if x > y then x else y

You'd write this:

  max x y = if' (x > y) x y

But the "then" and "else" remove the need for parentheses around the expressions.