fmap seems oddly named because no "mapping" takes place, except in the fourth example, where the map is "passed in." Just sayin'. Michael 1) Prelude Control.Monad Control.Applicative> fmap (++ "abc") getLine xyz "xyzabc" 2) Prelude Control.Monad Control.Applicative Data.Char Data.String> fmap (splitAt 3) getLine qwertyuio ("qwe","rtyuio") 3) Prelude Control.Monad Control.Applicative Data.Char> fmap toUpper getLine <interactive>:1:13:     Couldn't match expected type `Char' against inferred type `[Char]'       Expected type: IO Char       Inferred type: IO String     In the second argument of `fmap', namely `getLine'     In the expression: fmap toUpper getLine 4) Prelude Control.Monad Control.Applicative Data.Char Data.String> fmap (map toUpper) getLine qwertyuio "QWERTYUIO"