February 2017 - Beginners

Semigroup Instances
by Atrudyjane 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

I'm currently studying semigroups and trying to figure out how to determine which type variables need a semigroup instance. Here are a couple of examples from Evan Cameron's github (https://github.com/leshow/haskell-programming-book/blob/master/src/Ch15ex.hs) (1) data Validation a b = Failure a | Success b deriving (Eq, Show) instance Semigroup a => Semigroup (Validation a b) where Success a <> Success b = Success a Failure a <> Success b = Success b Success a <> Failure b = Success a Failure a <> Failure b = Failure (a <> b) * Why doesn't 'b' need an instance of semigroup? (2) newtype AccumulateRight a b = AccumulateRight (Validation a b) deriving (Eq, Show) instance Semigroup b => Semigroup (AccumulateRight a b) where AccumulateRight (Success a) <>AccumulateRight (Failure b) =AccumulateRight (Success a) AccumulateRight (Failure a) <>AccumulateRight (Success b) =AccumulateRight (Success b) AccumulateRight (Failure a) <>AccumulateRight (Failure b) =AccumulateRight (Failure a) AccumulateRight (Success a) <> AccumulateRight (Success b) = AccumulateRight (Success (a <> b)) * Why doesn't 'a' need an instance of semigroup? Thank you, Andrea Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.

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Applicative for State
by mike h 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

Hi, I have a State by another name, Stat, just to experiment and learn. newtype Stat s a = Stat { runStat :: s -> (a, s) } instance Functor (Stat s) where fmap f (Stat g) = Stat $ \s -> (f a, s) where (a, s) = g s instance Applicative (Stat s) where pure a = Stat $ \s -> (a, s) (Stat f) <*> (Stat g) = Stat $ \s -> (a, s) where (a, s) = undefined I really can’t get what the <*> in the Applicative should be! I just do see how I ‘get the f out of the Stat’ and then apply it. I’d be really grateful if someone would explain what it should be and the steps/reasoning needed to get there. Many thanks Mike

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Ambiguous type variable prevents the constraint `(Ord t0)' from being solved.
by Ivan Kush 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

I get this error (full message at the end of the mail). How could I correct my code? =================== Code: =================== module Intro where import Data.Bits -- for xor, .&. data Func a b = Empty | Leaf Int [(a, b)] | Branch Int Int (Func a b) (Func a b) applyd = let apply_listd l d x = case l of [] -> d x (a, b) : t -> let c = compare x a in if c == EQ then b else if c == GT then apply_listd t d x else d x in \f d x -> let k = 5 -- hash x - todo in let look t = case t of Leaf h l | h == k -> apply_listd l d x Branch p b l r | (k `xor` p) .&. (b - 1) == 0 -> -- (Branch p b l r) | ((k xor p) .&. (b - 1)) == 0 -> look (if k .&. b == 0 then l else r) _ -> d x in look f =================== Error: =================== Intro.hs:37:25: error: * Ambiguous type variable `t0' arising from a use of `apply_listd' prevents the constraint `(Ord t0)' from being solved. Relevant bindings include l :: [(t0, t)] (bound at Intro.hs:36:28) t :: Func t0 t (bound at Intro.hs:34:21) look :: Func t0 t -> t (bound at Intro.hs:34:16) x :: t0 (bound at Intro.hs:32:15) d :: t0 -> t (bound at Intro.hs:32:13) f :: Func t0 t (bound at Intro.hs:32:11) (Some bindings suppressed; use -fmax-relevant-binds=N or -fno-max-relevant-binds) Probable fix: use a type annotation to specify what `t0' should be. These potential instances exist: instance Ord Ordering -- Defined in `GHC.Classes' instance Ord Integer -- Defined in `integer-gmp-1.0.0.1:GHC.Integer.Type' instance Ord a => Ord (Maybe a) -- Defined in `GHC.Base' ...plus 22 others ...plus five instances involving out-of-scope types (use -fprint-potential-instances to see them all) * In the expression: apply_listd l d x In a case alternative: Leaf h l | h == k -> apply_listd l d x In the expression: case t of { Leaf h l | h == k -> apply_listd l d x Branch p b l r | (k `xor` p) .&. (b - 1) == 0 -> look (if k .&. b == 0 then l else r) _ -> d x } -- Best wishes, Ivan Kush

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Need help understanding the tell function in the Monad Writer example in LYAH
by Olumide 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

Hello List, Would someone kindly explain how the tell function interacts with the Writer Monad as show below: (Example taken from chapter 14 of LYAH http://learnyouahaskell.com/for-a-few-monads-more#reader ) multWithLog :: Writer [String] Int multWithLog = do a <- logNumber 3 b <- logNumber 5 tell ["Gonna multiply these two"] return (a*b) Result: ghci> runWriter multWithLog (15,["Got number: 3","Got number: 5","Gonna multiply these two"]) I know that tell function binds to an argument that is discarded but I don't know how its argument "Gonna multiply these two" is concatenated with the other the Writer created by logNumber 3 and logNumber 5. Also, I don't understand the paragraph following the example: "It's important that return (a*b) is the last line, because the result of the last line in a do expression is the result of the whole do expression. Had we put tell as the last line, () would have been the result of this do expression. We'd lose the result of the multiplication. However, the log would be the same." Regards, - Olumide

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Bit confused...
by mike h 04 Feb '17

04 Feb '17

I have ---------- import qualified Data.Map as M type Link a = (a, Int) data MChain a = Map a [Link a] deriving (Show) ------------------- and want to make a Monoid of MChain. So I have ------------------- instance Monoid (MChain a) where mempty = M.empty mappend = undefined ------------------- this won’t compile and I need M.empty to be Map a [Link a] The error is Couldn't match expected type ‘MChain a1’ with actual type ‘M.Map k0 a0’ • In the expression: M.empty :: MChain a In an equation for ‘mempty’: mempty = M.empty :: MChain a In the instance declaration for ‘Monoid (MChain a)’ This part confuses me "Couldn't match expected type ‘MChain a1 with actual type ‘M.Map k0 a0’ " How should I proceed. Many thanks Mike

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Question about example in 'using do notation with Writer' section of LYH
by Olumide 03 Feb '17

03 Feb '17

Hello List, Chapter 14 of LYH ( http://learnyouahaskell.com/for-a-few-monads-more#reader ) has the following bit of code: import Control.Monad.Writer logNumber :: Int -> Writer [String] Int logNumber x = Writer (x, ["Got number: " ++ show x]) multWithLog :: Writer [String] Int multWithLog = do a <- logNumber 3 b <- logNumber 5 return (a*b) I have a fair grasp of what's going bu the last line return(a*b) eludes me. Specifically its the a*b part that baffles me. I think 3 is bound to 'a' and 5 to 'b', then return(a*b) would put the value 15 in a context ... So what becomes of the string parts of the Writer monads created by logNumber 3 and logNumber 5 respectively. Regards, - Olumide

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