module Plutarch.Docs.DifferencePconPconstant () where 
import Plutarch.Prelude
import Plutarch.Internal.PlutusType (PlutusType(pcon', pmatch'))

The difference between PlutusType/PCon and PLift’s pconstant

PlutusType is especially useful for building up Plutarch terms dynamically - i.e. from arbitrary Plutarch terms. This is when your Plutarch type’s constructors contain other Plutarch terms.

Another case PlutusType is useful is when you want to give your Plutarch type a custom representation, Scott encoding, enum - what have you. From the PlutusType haddock example:

data AB (s :: S) = A | B

instance PlutusType AB where
  type PInner AB = PInteger
  pcon' A = 0
  pcon' B = 1
  pmatch' x f = pif (x #== 0) (f A) (f B)

You can use the A and B constructors during building, but still have your type be represented as integers under the hood! You cannot do this with pconstant.

You should prefer pconstant/pconstantData (from PConstant/PLift) when you can build something up entirely from Haskell level constants and that something has the same representation as the Haskell constant.