October 2012 - Haskell-Cafe

Enemy of the Mutable State
by Mark Lentczner 27 Oct '12

27 Oct '12

A Haskell poster I made that you all might enjoy: http://www.ozonehouse.com/mark/enemy/ - mzero

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ANNOUNCE: pretty-tree
by Ivan Lazar Miljenovic 26 Oct '12

26 Oct '12

For a project I'm working on, I got sick of writing out trees by hand. Data.Tree has a drawTree function, but whilst it's better than nothing, I prefer a more top-down "traditional" approach to drawing trees. So I wrote a package to do just that: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/pretty-tree (I didn't think to check whether diagrams had capabilities to do so until after I finished, though in this case I prefer a textual approach anyway.) I'm more than happy to consider adding other forms of drawing trees (though off-hand I can't think of any), or of course you can send me patches since I'm taking advantage of the nice new shiny hub.darcs.net (thanks Darcs team!). I was going to put an example here but it only really comes out nicely if you're using a monospaced font, so have a look at the Haddock docs for the module once Hackage builds it (in hindsight, I should probably have come up with better labels before releasing the package... oh well :) -- Ivan Lazar Miljenovic Ivan.Miljenovic(a)gmail.com http://IvanMiljenovic.wordpress.com

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Munich Haskell Meeting
by Heinrich Hördegen 26 Oct '12

26 Oct '12

Dear all, next Monday, 29th of October, our monthly Haskell Meeting will take place at 19h30 at Cafe Puck. Everybody interested in functional programming is wellcome. Please go to http://www.haskell-munich.de/dates for more information and push the button, if you intend to join. With hope to see you on Monday, Heinrich

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Problems translating Conor McBride's talk into Haskell + DataKind + KindPoly
by Ahn, Ki Yung 26 Oct '12

26 Oct '12

Most part of Conor's talk at ICFP, until just before the last stage where he heavily uses true value dependency for compiler correctness all the code seemed to be able to translate into Haskell with the new hot DataKinds and PolyKinds extension. I tried it in GHC 7.4.1 and it was possible to do it, but I got stuck and I had to make the generic list structure mono-kinded with kind signatures rather not use the PolyKinds extension. I wonder if this is just a but of GHC 7.4.1's implementation of PolyKinds, or a limitation of the DataKind design. I attached a literate Haskell script with this message that illustrates this problem. Thanks in advance for any comments including whether it runs in later versions or still has problems, and discussions about the DataKinds and PolyKinds extension. Ki Yung

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pragma to request tail recursion optimization (and perhaps [co]inductive recursion)
by Petr P 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

Hi, Haskell compilers optimize tail recursive functions as cycles, which improves both memory and CPU complexity. However, it's easy to make a mistake and break the conditions under which a function can be tail recursive and thus optimized. Is there a way to tell a Haskell compiler that a function must be tail recursive and if it cannot be done, fail the compilation? Like Scala's @tailrec? I'd say no, and believe it would be quite handy. I suppose this could be realized as a pragma. There could be also additional pragmas to ensure that a recursive function is inductive (the recursive call is on a strict sub-structure of one of the arguments) or co-inductive (the recursive call is guarded by a constructor). Best regards, Petr Pudlak

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Online haskell course
by graham＠fatlazycat.com 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

Anyone know of a similar course to the coursera scala one for haskell ? https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun Quite interesting online course that has graded assignments. Anything similar or anyone considering doing something similar for haskell ? Thanks Graham

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createProcess fails to find executable in Windows
by José Pedro Magalhães 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

Hi all, Consider the following program: module Test where > > import System.Process (readProcess) > > main :: IO () > main = readProcess "git" ["describe", "--tags"] "" >>= putStr > In Windows I get the following behaviour: > git --version > git version 1.7.10.msysgit.1 > > > ghc --version > The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 7.6.1 > > > runghc Test > Test: git: createProcess: does not exist (No such file or directory) > The same happens with GHC 7.4.2. In Linux, however, it works as expected: $ git --version > git version 1.7.9.5 > $ ghc --version > The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 7.4.1 > $ runghc Test.hs > Package-2.0-68-gacaf77a > Can anyone reproduce this result in Windows? Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong? Thanks, Pedro

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Re: [Haskell-cafe] serialize an unknown type
by Corentin Dupont 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

I'm trying to get around my problem (still stuck...). I have really to call a function like this: triggerEvent :: (Typeable e, Show e, Eq e) => Event e -> EventData e -> State Game () This function simply execute an event given the corresponding data and change the state of the game. Now as explained my web framework won't accept random types (like "e") to be passed around. So I said to myself "OK, so let's store the events in a list and ask the gui to just give me the number of the event". So I have an heterogeneous list of events [EventWrap]: data EventWrap where EW :: (Typeable e, Show e, Eq e) => {eventNumber :: Int, event :: Event e} -> EventWrap Do you think this solution can lead me somewhere?? I have actually doubts I can find back my "Event e" from the list because of the implicit forall in the GADT..... Thanks, Corentin On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Chris Smith <cdsmith(a)gmail.com> wrote: > "Corentin Dupont" <corentin.dupont(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > I could ask my user to make his new type an instance of a class as > suggested by Alberto... > > If you are working with unknown types, then your options are: (a) > constrain to some type class, or (b) have your clients pass in functions to > operate on the type alongside the values. Actually the first is just a > special case of the second with syntactic sugar... >

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Haskell Weekly News: Issue 248
by Daniel Santa Cruz 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

Welcome to issue 248 of the HWN, an issue covering crowd-sourced bits of information about Haskell from around the web. This issue covers the week of October 14 to October 20, 2012. Quotes of the Week * shachaf: Don't fixity fit ain't broken. * shachaf: SIKP, the cheap knockoff book that uses the less-known programming language "skeem" * shachaf: category-extras was so great until the antitrust lawsuit. * Cale: If there was a second syntax and we named it cata' would that be a catastrophe? * acowley: I just don't want edwardk to name them, because he'll choose a name like "x" * cmccann: so edwardk has abstracted things to the point where you can use his libraries without even installing them * Jafet: Agda has an evaluator? * johnw: but probably the other package is more "idiomatic". if by that you mean "uses mathematics to such a degree that most people walk away in consternation" * copumpkin: if I throw enough CT terms out there, one of them is bound to be right eventually * spj: "Our imperative colleagues do a lot of reasoning about their systems. Well, they have to." * spj: "You do the category theory, and you talk to Gordon. And he talks to Phil. And Phil talks to me." * ciaranm: a confusion is just the categorical dual of a fusion, which is just a fusoid in the category of brainofunctors Top Reddit Stories * The University of Heidelberg now uses Haskell for the intro cs course! Domain: self.haskell, Score: 85, Comments: 60 On Reddit: [1] http://goo.gl/abq2b Original: [2] http://goo.gl/abq2b * Cartesian Closed Comic #15: Iteratees Domain: ro-che.info, Score: 74, Comments: 2 On Reddit: [3] http://goo.gl/9NpD2 Original: [4] http://goo.gl/SB7HZ * Fast Code Nation: The Bright Side of High-Level Languages Domain: bos.github.com, Score: 63, Comments: 11 On Reddit: [5] http://goo.gl/KmBRt Original: [6] http://goo.gl/jm9s7 * VIDEO: Simon Marlow on High Performance Concurrency at the Haskell eXchange at Skills Matter Oct. 10th Domain: skillsmatter.com, Score: 44, Comments: On Reddit: [7] http://goo.gl/IuJhH Original: [8] http://goo.gl/BeHRg * Cellular automata as comonads Domain: blog.sigfpe.com, Score: 36, Comments: 10 On Reddit: [9] http://goo.gl/73nr2 Original: [10] http://goo.gl/vH4TK * VIDEO: Simon Peyton Jones at the Haskell eXchange about the origins and the future of Haskell Domain: skillsmatter.com, Score: 31, Comments: 6 On Reddit: [11] http://goo.gl/Iklcf Original: [12] http://goo.gl/WxJhc * Duality for Haskellers : Inside 206-105 Domain: blog.ezyang.com, Score: 31, Comments: 1 On Reddit: [13] http://goo.gl/qhohx Original: [14] http://goo.gl/VuHMS * Communication Patterns in Cloud Haskell (Part 4): K-Means Domain: well-typed.com, Score: 27, Comments: On Reddit: [15] http://goo.gl/9bT02 Original: [16] http://goo.gl/7S5XQ * VIDEO: Duncan Coutts on Cloud Haskell at the Haskell eXchange at Skills Matter Oct 10 Domain: skillsmatter.com, Score: 26, Comments: 29 On Reddit: [17] http://goo.gl/lLyGD Original: [18] http://goo.gl/eUd0W * How to use Yesod without Template Haskell Domain: yesodweb.com, Score: 26, Comments: On Reddit: [19] http://goo.gl/HT3aD Original: [20] http://goo.gl/s81mw * Variance Shadow Mapping with LambdaCube 3D Domain: lambdacube3d.wordpress.com, Score: 23, Comments: 5 On Reddit: [21] http://goo.gl/g3Hs0 Original: [22] http://goo.gl/jDv0S * Thinking Functionally with Haskell | PragPub 2012/10 Domain: pragprog.com, Score: 21, Comments: 1 On Reddit: [23] http://goo.gl/N9HRL Original: [24] http://goo.gl/6ptKX * Haskell Automatic Information Labeling System - new release and video Domain: self.haskell, Score: 18, Comments: 4 On Reddit: [25] http://goo.gl/ujURP Original: [26] http://goo.gl/ujURP * Livecoding with the Happstack web framework. (2 hour video) Domain: youtube.com, Score: 18, Comments: 22 On Reddit: [27] http://goo.gl/POkCB Original: [28] http://goo.gl/n5uNA * VIDEO: Blake Rain on Scalable web applications with YESOD at the Haskell eXchange at Skills Matter Oct 10 Domain: skillsmatter.com, Score: 17, Comments: 2 On Reddit: [29] http://goo.gl/kFPsJ Original: [30] http://goo.gl/zUNBb * Measuring the performance of Warp Domain: yesodweb.com, Score: 17, Comments: 13 On Reddit: [31] http://goo.gl/MBPnT Original: [32] http://goo.gl/p3HUq * Tail Recursive Sorting (QuickSort) Domain: self.haskell, Score: 15, Comments: 31 On Reddit: [33] http://goo.gl/qkECv Original: [34] http://goo.gl/qkECv * a class that generalizes over Functor, Functor2, Functor3, and so on — Redshift Phase 2: types classes for types with arbitrary numbers of * parameters Domain: csks.wordpress.com, Score: 15, Comments: 17 On Reddit: [35] http://goo.gl/gjQL2 Original: [36] http://goo.gl/0XsPN * Wiggling Sums: a somewhat interesting Traversable problem Domain: jaspervdj.be, Score: 13, Comments: 12 On Reddit: [37] http://goo.gl/FKPw3 Original: [38] http://goo.gl/xu2oX * VIDEO: Lennart Augustsson on 'Making EDSL's Fly at the Haskell eXchange at Skills Matter Oct 10 Domain: skillsmatter.com, Score: 12, Comments: 5 On Reddit: [39] http://goo.gl/hFlF6 Original: [40] http://goo.gl/TXMg4 Top StackOverflow Questions * Why not be dependently typed? votes: 25, answers: 1 Read on SO: [41] http://goo.gl/1TSVh * Writing cojoin or cobind for n-dimensional grid type votes: 23, answers: 0 Read on SO: [42] http://goo.gl/qbz7z * Monad Transformers vs Passing parameters to functions votes: 21, answers: 1 Read on SO: [43] http://goo.gl/UpU57 * SOAP web services in haskell? votes: 16, answers: 1 Read on SO: [44] http://goo.gl/1fiiM * How does one statisfy a class constraint in an instance of a class that requires a type constructor rather than a concrete type? votes: 13, answers: 1 Read on SO: [45] http://goo.gl/DD00Q * If “List” is a monoid, what is its “set”? votes: 13, answers: 2 Read on SO: [46] http://goo.gl/bYYar * Lambda calculus in Haskell: Is there some way to make Church numerals type check? votes: 13, answers: 2 Read on SO: [47] http://goo.gl/66qKc * Relation between Haskell Threads and OS Threads in the GHC votes: 13, answers: 1 Read on SO: [48] http://goo.gl/2u8pS * Can Scala's Cake Pattern be implemented in Haskell? votes: 12, answers: 2 Read on SO: [49] http://goo.gl/QiMfg * Agda Type-Checking and Commutativity / Associativity of + votes: 9, answers: 1 Read on SO: [50] http://goo.gl/CqnMJ Until next time, Daniel Santa Cruz References 1. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11klmw/the_university_of_heidelber… 2. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11klmw/the_university_of_heidelber… 3. http://ro-che.info/ccc/15.html 4. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11t7ru/cartesian_closed_comic_15_i… 5. http://bos.github.com/reaktor-dev-day-2012/reaktor-talk-slides.html 6. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11sl47/fast_code_nation_the_bright… 7. http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/home/high-performance-concurrency/ac-5258 8. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11geat/video_simon_marlow_on_high_… 9. http://blog.sigfpe.com/2006/12/evaluating-cellular-automata-is.html 10. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11o6nu/cellular_automata_as_comona… 11. http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/home/front-end-language-features/ac-5258 12. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11ge03/video_simon_peyton_jones_at… 13. http://blog.ezyang.com/2012/10/duality-for-haskellers/ 14. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11s0j0/duality_for_haskellers_insi… 15. http://www.well-typed.com/blog/74 16. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11iijo/communication_patterns_in_c… 17. http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/home/cloud-haskell/ac-5258 18. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11gia8/video_duncan_coutts_on_clou… 19. http://www.yesodweb.com/blog/2012/10/yesod-pure 20. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11jap2/how_to_use_yesod_without_te… 21. http://lambdacube3d.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/variance-shadow-mapping/ 22. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11ijjg/variance_shadow_mapping_wit… 23. http://pragprog.com/magazines/2012-10/thinking-functionally-with-haskell 24. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11o5oa/thinking_functionally_with_… 25. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11kpin/haskell_automatic_informati… 26. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11kpin/haskell_automatic_informati… 27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wmszk4wZxQ 28. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11obty/livecoding_with_the_happsta… 29. http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/home/scalable-web-applications-with-yesod/a… 30. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11ggaf/video_blake_rain_on_scalabl… 31. http://www.yesodweb.com/blog/2012/10/measuring-warp 32. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11kfqu/measuring_the_performance_o… 33. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11lybk/tail_recursive_sorting_quic… 34. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11lybk/tail_recursive_sorting_quic… 35. http://csks.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/redshift-phase-2-types-classes-for-typ… 36. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11nj47/a_class_that_generalizes_ov… 37. http://jaspervdj.be/posts/2012-10-17-wiggling-sums.html 38. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11mnw5/wiggling_sums_a_somewhat_in… 39. http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/home/making-edsls-fly/ac-5258 40. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/11gg80/video_lennart_augustsson_on… 41. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12961651/why-not-be-dependently-typed 42. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12963733/writing-cojoin-or-cobind-for-n-… 43. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12968351/monad-transformers-vs-passing-p… 44. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12904377/soap-web-services-in-haskell 45. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12922187/how-does-one-statisfy-a-class-c… 46. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12927152/if-list-is-a-monoid-what-is-its… 47. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12942397/lambda-calculus-in-haskell-is-t… 48. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12944151/relation-between-haskell-thread… 49. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12947176/can-scalas-cake-pattern-be-impl… 50. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12949323/agda-type-checking-and-commutat…

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Cabalizing LVM
by Jurriaan Hage 24 Oct '12

24 Oct '12

Dear all, in an effort to Cabalize the Helium compiler and make it available on Hackage, it would be helpful to have an example of a Cabal file that shows how to deal with compilation of platform dependent C-code. Anybody out there who has a sample for me? best, Jurriaan Hage

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