Joel Björnson wrote:
Hi. I have a question regarding type classes and FunDeps. Consider the following code :
class Class2 a b | a -> b
class IsFoo a data Bar a = Bar a
instance IsFoo a => Class2 a a instance IsFoo a => Class2 (Bar a) a
The last two instantiations will yield a 'Functional dependencies conflict error'. From what I understand, this is because (Bar a) *MAY* instantiate the type class isFoo, which would obviously lead to a conflict between the two instantiations.
Possibly you meant to write: instance IsFoo a => Class2 a a instance Class2 (Bar a) a in which case the conflict does arise because (Bar a) could be an instance of IsFoo, but afaik there is no way to tell the compiler that (Bar a) can never be an instance of IsFoo, since all classes are "open" ie new instances can be defined later. Having said this it does seem to me rather strange that there is no way to specify that (Bar a) cannot ever be an instance of IsFoo, since fundeps themselves limit the allowable instances for a class so you'd think the fundep itself would be enough to tell the compiler that there can be no instances of IsFoo (Bar a) in the same way that: class Class3 a b | a -> b instance Class3 Bool Char instance Class3 Int Float tells the compiler there can't be any future instance such as Class3 Int Char etc, but perhaps it is necessary to keep the possible instances for each type class strictly independent of any other typeclass to avoid too much complexity. There is a proposal for Haskell' for closed classes but this is listed under the "probably no" section so it's unlikely this will be adopted. http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/haskell-prime/wiki/ClassSystem http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/haskell-prime/wiki/ClosedClasses Regards, Brian. -- Logic empowers us and Love gives us purpose. Yet still phantoms restless for eras long past, congealed in the present in unthought forms, strive mightily unseen to destroy us. http://www.metamilk.com