On 12/27/2012 02:25 PM, Roman Cheplyaka wrote:
Wouldn't it be better to have a real algebraic type instead of wrapping Maybe?
Something like
data Maximum a = MinusInfinity | Maximum a data Minimum a = PlusInfinity | Minimum a
Maximum x is more concise than Maximum (Just x), and MinusInfinity is more descriptive than Maximum Nothing. getMaximum/getMinimum functions can still return Maybes.
Anyway, I'm +1 to having something along these lines.
Roman
Interesting. Then you can recapitulate the original Maybe API using: getMaximum :: Maximum a -> Maybe a getMinimum :: Minimum a -> Maybe a One slight disadvantage is that there might be a tiny overhead for converting between Maximum/Minimum and Maybe, but I doubt that would be a bottle-neck in any application. Another disadvantage is then it sets a precedent for redefining the First and Last Monoids to similarly more descriptive types. When I did it the Maybe way I was just copying the way First and Last worked.