June 2015 - Haskell-Cafe

haskell-src-exts maintenance
by Matthew Pickering 29 Jul '15

29 Jul '15

Dear List, There are a large number of untriaged pull requests and issues currently open on the issue tracker for haskell-src-exts. The tool is widely used by tool writers but the last commit to the project is now over 6 months ago. I think it is important to get this work merged and update the parser to support modern language features introduced in GHC 7.8 and 7.10. I would personally be capable of helping with this effort but before doing so I would appreciate a comment from the current maintainers as to the current status of the project. So, 1. Does anyone know if Niklas or Peter plan to return to the project? 2. Is there anyone else who is interested in updating the HSE parser? Matt

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Bibliographic references on advantages of functional languages for refactoring
by Nicola Gigante 24 Jul '15

24 Jul '15

Hi all, I’m writing my master thesis, which is not itself about functional programming but I use Haskell as the language chosen for the implementation of whatever I’m talking about. To motivate the choice more than “I like the language” I’m arguing that since I’m implementing experimental stuff and I’ll need to change the code and refactor very often, a strongly typed language is what I need. I wrote this sentence: "Strongly-typed programming eases the refactoring process by leveraging the compiler to spot wrong transformations before they turn into runtime bugs” Since this thesis is not itself about functional programming this sentence needs to be backed by something. In other words I need to cite some published paper where this is said/surveyed/proved/whatever. So the question: can you help me find referentiable published work relative to how strongly-typed functional programming eases refactoring? A survey or some case-study report or some functional pearl, dunno. Thank you very much in advance, Nicola

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Add IsNumeric (similar to IsString and IsList)
by Michael Baikov 20 Jul '15

20 Jul '15

Hi Cafe! Now that we have OverloadedList and OverloadedStrings extensions it might make sense to add something similar for numerals - right now if you want to be able to specify some items as numbers you have to implement Num instance, unfortunately not everything that can be represented as number can have sensible operations required by Num: negation makes no sense for set of natural numbers for example, multiplication for some applications of currency values which results in Num instance full of (*) = error "No multipication for Foos", (+) = error "No addition for Foos". I don't have any statistics from hackage or github, but in codebase I'm working with there are 3 such instances. Proposal: add OverloadedNumerals language pragma, IsNumeric typeclass and some methods to make that class useful with behavior similar to Lists and Strings.

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Re: [Haskell-cafe] The evil GADTs extension in ghci 7.8.4 (maybe in other versions too?)
by Edward Z. Yang 20 Jul '15

20 Jul '15

GHC used to always generalize let-bindings, but our experience with GADTs lead us to decide that let should not be generalized with GADTs. So, it's not like we /wanted/ MonoLocalBinds, but that having them makes the GADT machinery simpler. This blog post gives more details on the matter: https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/blog/LetGeneralisationInGhc7 Edward Excerpts from Ki Yung Ahn's message of 2015-06-04 20:37:27 -0700: > Such order dependent could be very confusing for the users. I thought I > turned off certain feature but some other extension turning it on is > strange. Wouldn't it be better to decouple GADT and MonoLocalBinds? > > 2015년 06월 04일 20:31에 Edward Z. Yang 이(가) 쓴 글: > > This is because -XGADTs implies -XMonoLocalBinds. > > > > Edward > > > > Excerpts from Ki Yung Ahn's message of 2015-06-04 20:29:50 -0700: > >> \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x > >> > >> is a perfectly fine there whose type is a -> a. > >> (1) With no options, ghci infers its type correctly. > >> (2) However, with -XGADTs, type check fails and raises occurs check. > >> (3) We can remedy this by supplying some additional options > >> (4) Howver, if you put -XGADTs option at the end, it fails again :( > >> > >> > >> kyagrd@kyahp:~$ ghci > >> GHCi, version 7.8.4: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help > >> Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package base ... linking ... done. > >> Prelude> :t \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x > >> \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x :: t -> t > >> Prelude> :q > >> Leaving GHCi. > >> > >> > >> kyagrd@kyahp:~$ ghci -XGADTs > >> GHCi, version 7.8.4: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help > >> Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package base ... linking ... done. > >> Prelude> :t \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x > >> > >> <interactive>:1:30: > >> Occurs check: cannot construct the infinite type: t0 ~ t0 -> t > >> Relevant bindings include > >> x :: t0 -> t (bound at <interactive>:1:11) > >> y :: t (bound at <interactive>:1:2) > >> In the first argument of ‘x’, namely ‘x’ > >> In the expression: x x > >> Prelude> :q > >> Leaving GHCi. > >> > >> > >> ~$ ghci -XGADTs -XNoMonoLocalBinds -XNoMonomorphismRestriction > >> GHCi, version 7.8.4: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help > >> Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package base ... linking ... done. > >> Prelude> :t \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x > >> \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x :: t -> t > >> Prelude> :q > >> Leaving GHCi. > >> > >> > >> ~$ ghci -XNoMonoLocalBinds -XNoMonomorphismRestriction -XGADTs > >> GHCi, version 7.8.4: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help > >> Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done. > >> Loading package base ... linking ... done. > >> Prelude> :t \y -> let x = (\z -> y) in x x > >> > >> <interactive>:1:30: > >> Occurs check: cannot construct the infinite type: t0 ~ t0 -> t > >> Relevant bindings include > >> x :: t0 -> t (bound at <interactive>:1:11) > >> y :: t (bound at <interactive>:1:2) > >> In the first argument of ‘x’, namely ‘x’ > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Glasgow-haskell-users mailing list > > Glasgow-haskell-users(a)haskell.org > > http://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users > > >

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References on haskellwiki
by Alexis Praga 08 Jul '15

08 Jul '15

Hi, I've begun to do some formatting on old Monad Readers editions on Haskell Wiki. Unfortunately, there is no support for proper references support. Can the admin add the "Cite" extension ? It would help a lot. Thanks -- Alexis Praga, PhD Student (CERFACS) GPG key : AD4A AF6D BB5C 042F 9422 1223 06E1 C1BF E287 65D0

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Symmetric Difference for Data.Set and Data.IntSet?
by Zemyla 08 Jul '15

08 Jul '15

Could this be implemented as a primitive? I know it can be made from union and difference, or doing toList on both of them, taking the symmetric difference, and using fromDistinctAscList on the result, but it'd probably be much faster if it could be done natively, like can be done with Data.Map.mergeWithKey. Alternatively, could we get a merge interface for Set and IntSet roughly matching Map and IntMap?

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Extensible states
by Alberto G. Corona 06 Jul '15

06 Jul '15

Hi, Anyone used some of the extensible record packages to create a kind of extensible state monad? I mean something that besides having "get", "gets" and "put" would have some kind of "add" and "gets": add :: a -> State () gets :: State (Maybe a) or add :: LabelName -> a -> State () gets :: LabelName -> State (Maybe a) So that I can extend the state without using additional monad transformers. Monad transformers are very hard for beginners and scramble error messages I did the first option for MFlow, hplayground and Transient packages (setSData and getSData). But my solution uses a map indexed by type and this requires a lookup for each access. I would like to know if there is an alternative with no lookups. I´m not obsessed with speed but In some applications the speed may be important.... Anyone? -- Alberto.

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MVars and locks
by Tom Ellis 04 Jul '15

04 Jul '15

In the following section of the book "Parallel and Concurrent Programming in Haskell" http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000929/ch07.html#sec_conc-phon… Simon Marlow explains that MVars can be used to implement something like locks on shared functional state: "To acquire the lock, we take the MVar, whereas, to update the variable and release the lock, we put the MVar." Am I right in thinking this only holds if we are careful to ensure both those operations happen in the given order? For example, if I take the MVar (lock) and I am about to put something back in (unlock) but someone else puts something in before I do, then the lock system becomes broken, doesn't it? So if we want to be sure we have a robust lock system we have to wrap up MVars in another abstraction? Tom

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Advice gfx library
by Nicholls, Mark 01 Jul '15

01 Jul '15

I am interested in writing some real code now! What i could do with is a gfx library that Can render mpeg/mov files Scale Transform etc Is simple! Runs on windows in some form Ive got hudaks book about multimedia, and understand the general reactive idea behind it....i want to build on top of that Ive nosed around gloss and grapefruit, but the mpeg piece seems missing from these Any ideas? Excuse the spelling, sent from a phone with itty bitty keys, it like trying to sow a button on a shirt with a sausage. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE This e-mail (and any attached files) is confidential and protected by copyright (and other intellectual property rights). If you are not the intended recipient please e-mail the sender and then delete the email and any attached files immediately. Any further use or dissemination is prohibited. While MTV Networks Europe has taken steps to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus free, it is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are virus free and do not affect your systems / data. Communicating by email is not 100% secure and carries risks such as delay, data corruption, non-delivery, wrongful interception and unauthorised amendment. If you communicate with us by e-mail, you acknowledge and assume these risks, and you agree to take appropriate measures to minimise these risks when e-mailing us. MTV Networks International, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, Greenhouse, Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products, VBSi, Viacom Brand Solutions International, Be Viacom, Viacom International Media Networks and VIMN and Comedy Central are all trading names of MTV Networks Europe. MTV Networks Europe is a partnership between MTV Networks Europe Inc. and Viacom Networks Europe Inc. Address for service in Great Britain is 17-29 Hawley Crescent, London, NW1 8TT.

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How to Hijack stdin,err,out, thread safely?
by Hiromi ISHII 01 Jul '15

01 Jul '15

Hi, I'm currently writing a web app to check the spec of input code usging QuickCheck. quickCheck* functions writes results to stderr & stdout, but I don't want them written to the app's original stdout/err. (I'm using SafeHaskell features to avoid malicious code executed, so don't worry about that :-)) So I want to execute I/O action hijacking stdout/err in a thread-safe manner. For example, I need function like below: censorHandles :: IO a -> IO (a, String, String) censorHandles = ... or withStd :: Handle -> Handle -> Handle -> IO a -> IO a withStd = ... -- Hiromi ISHII konn.jinro(a)gmail.com

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