+-- Is this a wild binder?
+is_wild :: CoreSyn.CoreBndr -> Bool
+-- wild binders have a particular unique, that we copied from MkCore.lhs to
+-- here. However, this comparison didn't work, so we'll just check the
+-- occstring for now... TODO
+--(Var.varUnique bndr) == (Unique.mkBuiltinUnique 1)
+is_wild bndr = "wild" == (OccName.occNameString . Name.nameOccName . Var.varName) bndr
+
+-- Is the given core expression a lambda abstraction?
+is_lam :: CoreSyn.CoreExpr -> Bool
+is_lam (CoreSyn.Lam _ _) = True
+is_lam _ = False
+
+-- Is the given core expression of a function type?
+is_fun :: CoreSyn.CoreExpr -> Bool
+-- Treat Type arguments differently, because exprType is not defined for them.
+is_fun (CoreSyn.Type _) = False
+is_fun expr = (Type.isFunTy . CoreUtils.exprType) expr