Following the declaration of "instance Monad []" in the prelude, and puzzling over the absence of its equivalent from Data.Set, I naively typed: instance Monad Set where m >>= k = concatSets (mapSet k m) return x = unitSet x fail s = emptySet concatSets sets = foldl union emptySet (setToList sets) instance (Eq b,Ord b) => Ord (Set b) where compare set1 set2 = compare (setToList set1) (setToList set2) and got the following error: Could not deduce (Ord b) from the context (Monad Set) arising from use of `concatSets' at dbMeta3.hs:242 Probable fix: Add (Ord b) to the class or instance method `>>=' In the definition of `>>=': >>= m k = concatSets (mapSet k m) In the definition for method `>>=' In the instance declaration for `Monad Set' Since I obviously can't modify the class declaration for Monad, the question arises: How does one add (Orb b) to the instance method '>>='? (Aside: it be really nice if the error messages suggested textual changes or at least provide sample syntax in addition to the conceptual recommendation.) -Alex- PS I assume the reason that Set is not declared as a Monad in Data.Set is oversight rather than incompatibility.... PPS I want to thank everyone who has been taking the time to answer all of my questions. I'll try to collect my various learnings into a useful beginners page once I reach the point where I think I can create a useful document. _________________________________________________________________ S. Alexander Jacobson mailto:me@alexjacobson.com tel:917-770-6565 http://alexjacobson.com