Re: [Haskell-cafe] Rigid type variable error

28 Jun 2009

      Thanks for the help previously received, but I still cannot seem to get
on top of this. The types for the constructor K will not resolve and
I'm at a loss to work out what to do with it. If anyone can offer
a further explanation and help I would be very grateful.

My code (File Test5.hs):
----------------------------
{-# LANGUAGE ExistentialQuantification #-}

class A a where
    a1 :: a
    a2 :: a -> a
    a3 :: (B b) => b -> a

class B b where
    b1 :: Int -> b

--data Ainst b = I | J (Ainst b) | K b
--  a3 :: (B b, A a) => b -> a
--  yet without the constraint on K, K :: b -> Ainst b
--  so the above data definition fails. Trying to
--  existentially quantify K below seems to make
--  sense, but also fails ...
data Ainst b = I | J (Ainst b) | (B b) => K b

instance (B b) => A (Ainst b) where
    a1 = I
    a2 = J
    a3 = K -- Reported line of the error

data Binst = Val Int

instance B Binst where
    b1 = Val
-------------------------------

The error from ghci is as follows:

Test5.hs:25:9:
    Couldn't match expected type `b' against inferred type `b1'
      `b' is a rigid type variable bound by
          the type signature for `a3' at Test5.hs:7:13
      `b1' is a rigid type variable bound by
           the instance declaration at Test5.hs:16:12
      Expected type: b -> Ainst b1
      Inferred type: b1 -> Ainst b1
    In the expression: K
    In the definition of `a3': a3 = K
Failed, modules loaded: none.

Thanks in advance for any help. Apologies if what I am doing is odd or
the answer is obvious, I'm still very new to Haskell.

Darryn.