On 10 February 2015 at 19:46, Edward Z. Yang
I propose the following (abstract) data type, functions, and instance be added to deepseq (naming amenable to bikeshedding):
newtype NF a = NF a -- abstract makeNF :: NFData a => a -> NF a getNF :: NF a -> a instance NFData (NF a) where rnf x = x `seq` ()
What about also adding `unsafeMakeNF :: a -> NF a` for times when you may have already made a value into normal form? Either way, +1.
NF is an abstract data type representing data which has been evaluated to normal form; the guarantee specifically is, if NF is in whnf, then it is in nf. Crucially, when we have 'NF a', we ONLY need to seq it in order to assure that it is fully evaluated.
This guarantee is sufficient for a variety of cases where normal data is necessary, e.g. when transmitting data over Channels. For example, from the monad-par library 'put_' could be used in place of 'put' with this type signature.
put_ :: IVar (NF a) -> (NF a) -> Par ()
Cheers, Edward _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries
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