I want to generalize a set of functions from lists to some functor type. I require the following three operation types.

f a
a -> f a
f a -> f a -> f a

Since f is a functor, FunctorPlus and Pointed together get you exactly the subset of functionality that you want. Whether or not category-extras can be considered a light weight dependency on the other hand is another thing entirely. ;)

-Edward Kmett