[Haskell-cafe] Multi-parameter type class woes

14 Dec 2008

      I have, for a change, a relatively simple problem with type classes. Can somebody explain to me, or point me to an explanation of the behaviour I see?

Here is a short and useless example:

  {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses, FlexibleInstances #-}

   import Data.Maybe

   class Container x y where
      wrapper :: x -> Bool
      unwrap :: x -> y
      rewrap :: y -> x

   liftWrap :: Container x y => (y -> y) -> (x -> x)
   liftWrap f x = (if wrapper x then rewrap . f . unwrap else id) x

   instance Container (Maybe x) x where
      wrapper = isJust
      unwrap = fromJust
      rewrap = Just

   main = print (liftWrap (succ :: Int -> Int) (Just 1 :: Maybe Int))

GHC 6.10.1 refuses to typecheck the 'wrapper' function in definition of 'liftWrap', with the following error message:

    Could not deduce (Container x y) from the context (Container x y1)
      arising from a use of `wrapper' at Test.hs:11:22-30
    Possible fix:
      add (Container x y) to the context of
        the type signature for `liftWrap'
    In the expression: wrapper x
    In the expression:
        (if wrapper x then rewrap . f . unwrap else id) x
    In the definition of `liftWrap':
        liftWrap f x = (if wrapper x then rewrap . f . unwrap else id) x

Let me clarify that I'm aware that in this particular example a functional dependecy should be used. Also, I can think of a few workarounds for my actual problem, so I'm not asking for any solutions. I'm looking for an explanation. It bugs me that my intuition of how this type class should have worked is completely wrong. The error message does not help, to put it mildly. Where should I go, what should I read?

[Haskell-cafe] Multi-parameter type class woes

Mario Blažević