[Haskell-cafe] Problem with result-type context restrictions in typeclasses.

30 Sep 2009

      N.B. I'm a newbie to Haskell, and this problem is a bit complex, so
bear with me.

I'm using typeclasses to implement a sort of common interface for all
things -- call them things of type 'Cls' -- that can be expected to
implement a set of functions -- an 'interface' in OOP-speak.  (Yes,
yes, I'm aware that typeclasses are subtly different and far superior,
but my Haskell-ese is still a bit rudimentary.)

Essentially, I want to have a typeclass that expects its instances to
have an accessor function that results in something that is an
instance of another typeclass whose instances can perform some
operation.   The ghc type-checker doesn't seem to like my code,
though, and I can't seem to figure out why.

To make it concrete, I've typed up some dummy typeclasses and a dummy
function that uses their instances to illustrate what I mean, as well
as the form of the ghc(i) error.

------------- BEGIN CODE ------------------
class Cls c where
    foo :: (Bar b) => c -> b

class Bar b where
    toNum :: b -> Int

-- | One implementation of Cls
data D = D {fu :: FU}
data FU = FU {num :: Int}

instance Cls D where
    foo = fu
instance Bar FU  where
    toNum f = (num f) + 47

-- | Another implementation of Cls
data E = E {fi :: FI}
data FI = FI {nuum :: Int}

instance Cls E where
    foo = fi
instance Bar FI where
    toNum f = (nuum f) + 100

-- | Yet another (this one re-uses FI)
data F = F {fii :: FI}

instance Cls F where
    foo = fii

-- | And one last one, just to stress that
--   I really need to implement multiple
--  instances of Cls.
data G = G {fuu :: FU}

instance Cls G where
    foo = fuu

-- | Good. Now, the function 'useThisStuff' need
--   not know anything about it's payload
--   other than that it its args are Cls's
--   (hence they are foo'able things that
--   can be used to construct an Int answer).
useThisStuff :: (Cls x, Cls y) => x -> y -> Int
useThisStuff x y =
    (toNum $ foo x) + (toNum $ foo y)
------------- END CODE --------------------

When I type this up in a file and try to load it in ghci, I get the
following error message(s):

------------- BEGIN ERROR MSG ----------
Prelude> :load Typeclasses.hs
[1 of 1] Compiling Typeclasses      ( Typeclasses.hs, interpreted )

Typeclasses.hs:14:10:
    Couldn't match expected type `b' against inferred type `FU'
      `b' is a rigid type variable bound by
          the type signature for `foo' at Typeclasses.hs:4:16
      Expected type: D -> b
      Inferred type: D -> FU
    In the expression: fu
    In the definition of `foo': foo = fu

Typeclasses.hs:23:10:
    Couldn't match expected type `b' against inferred type `FI'
      `b' is a rigid type variable bound by
          the type signature for `foo' at Typeclasses.hs:4:16
      Expected type: E -> b
      Inferred type: E -> FI
    In the expression: fi
    In the definition of `foo': foo = fi

Typeclasses.hs:31:10:
    Couldn't match expected type `b' against inferred type `FI'
      `b' is a rigid type variable bound by
          the type signature for `foo' at Typeclasses.hs:4:16
      Expected type: F -> b
      Inferred type: F -> FI
    In the expression: fii
    In the definition of `foo': foo = fii

Typeclasses.hs:39:10:
    Couldn't match expected type `b' against inferred type `FU'
      `b' is a rigid type variable bound by
          the type signature for `foo' at Typeclasses.hs:4:16
      Expected type: G -> b
      Inferred type: G -> FU
    In the expression: fuu
    In the definition of `foo': foo = fuu
Failed, modules loaded: none.
------------- END ERROR MSG ------------

It seems that ghc doesn't like the fact that I am saying 'foo' must
return a class 'b' of typeclass 'Bar', while providing a function that
returns a concrete data instance of 'Bar' (viz., FU or FI) later on
when I implement 'foo' in each type classes.  Repeated for
convenience:

class Cls c where
    foo :: (Bar b) => c -> b
...
-- (e.g.)
data G = G {fuu :: FU}
instance Cls G where
    foo = fuu

Does anyone have any clue as to what I'm doing wrong (language
extensions that I may need, etc.)?

Is is because I'm using context restrictions on the *result* type of a
typeclass method?  I've written other typeclasses with methods that
say, essentially:

class A a where
    blah :: (MonadPlus m) => a -> a -> m a

with no issues. The restriction there is not on the return type a, but
rather on some monadic 'wrapper' around it.  This may be why that code
works.

Please advise.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

--D.N. (Dennis)

[Haskell-cafe] Problem with result-type context restrictions in typeclasses.

DNM