Re: [Haskell-cafe] Alternative name for return

On 08/06/2013 04:30 PM, J. Stutterheim wrote:

Thanks Chris. Yes, I like lift as well, because I find it a rather intuitive name. Unfortunately, as you say, it is already a commonly used name as well, which might make it slightly confusing.

When I hear `unit` I immediately think about generic programming, not so much about monads. Can you perhaps explain the intuition behind `unit` as an alternative to `return` in the context of monads? Probably because of the monad laws, where `return` is a "unit" (in the mathematical sense) for the `bind` operation. - chris

- Jurriën

On 6 Aug 2013, at 07:32, Christian Sternagel wrote:

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Dear Jurriën.

personally, I like "lift" (which is of course already occupied in Haskell), since an arbitrary value is "lifted" into a monad. (The literature sometimes uses "unit".)

cheers

chris

On 08/06/2013 02:14 PM, J. Stutterheim wrote:

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Dear Cafe,

Suppose we now have the opportunity to change the name of the `return` function in Monad, what would be a "better" name for it? (for some definition of better)

N.B. I am _not_ proposing that we actually change the name of `return`. I do currently have the opportunity to pick names for common functions in a non-Haskell related project, so I was wondering if there perhaps is a better name for `return`.

- Jurriën _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe

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