[Haskell-cafe] Consequences of newtype deriving implementation w.r.t. base classes

13 Mar 2007

      I just noticed some unexpected consequences of the way newtype deriving 
is implemented in GHC. Because the dictionary of the underlying type is 
reused, so are base classes. This message is a literate Haskell program 
illustrating the problem.
...
{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fglasgow-exts #-}
This problem comes up when an instance method calls a method of a base 
class. Consider the following useless example:
...
class Show a => Show2 a where
      show2 :: a -> String
     	show2 = show
instance Show2 Int
Now consider a type deriving Show2, but having a different 
implementation of Show (also derived).
...
newtype Meter = Meter Int
     	deriving (Eq, Show, Show2)
Now, for show2 the derived Show instance (which also shows the 
constructor name) is *not* used, instead the Show Int instance is used:

] > show2 (Meter 1)
] "1"
] > show  (Meter 1)
] "Meter 1"

This is quite unexpected, unless you consider what is going on behind 
the scenes. Even more confusingly, GHC requires that there is a Show 
instance for Meters, even if it will not be used!

]    No instance for (Show Meter)
]      arising from the superclasses of an instance declaration at ...
]    Probable fix: add an instance declaration for (Show Meter)
]    In the instance declaration for `Show2 Meter'

This problem can come up whenever a class instance uses a function from 
a base class. Right now this not likely happen, but it will become more 
common if the standard classes are split up:
...
class Additive a where
      add :: a -> a -> a
class Additive a => Subtractive a where
      neg :: a -> a
      sub :: a -> a -> a
      sub x y = add x (neg y) -- calls base class function add
...
class Functor m => Monad' m where
      return' :: a -> m a
      join' :: m (m a) -> m a
      join' x = bind' x id
      bind' :: m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b
      bind' ma k = join' (fmap k ma) -- calls base class function fmap
As a solution I would suggest that newtype deriving a class instance is 
only allowed if all base classes instances are also derived using 
newtype deriving. This presents problems for Show and Read, because they 
cannot be derived in that way. It will, however, catch problems with 
most other classes.

Twan van Laarhoven