A year ago Edwardk Kmett pointed out some possible generalizations of functions [1], I made a ticket about them that led me here [2]. In addition to the functions mentioned

> maybeToList :: Foldable f => f a -> [a]

> maybeToList = toList

> catMaybes :: (Foldable f)             => f (Maybe a) -> [a]
> catMaybes :: (Foldable f, Foldable g) => f (g     a) -> [a]

> catMaybes = foldMap toList

> mapMaybes ::               (a -> Maybe b) -> (forall f. Foldable f => f a -> [b])
> mapMaybes :: Foldable m => (a -> m     b) -> (forall f. Foldable f => f a -> [b])
> mapMaybes f = foldMap (toList . f)

we also have *many* other functions (I do not propose generalising all these function ((especially when the name stops making sense)), but I will include them) that I will define in the vocabulary of ‘lens’. Some generalise to ‘Foldable’

> take :: Int -> (forall f a. Foldable f => f a -> [a])

> take n = toListOf (taking n folded)

> drop :: Int -> (forall f a. Foldable f => f a -> [a])
> drop n = toListOf (dropping n folded)

> takeWhile :: (a -> Bool) -> (forall f. Foldable f => f a -> [a])
> takeWhile p = toListOf (takingWhile p folded)

> dropWhile :: (a -> Bool) -> (forall f. Foldable f => f a -> [a])
> dropWhile p = toListOf (droppingWhile p folded)

> -- Same as ‘Control.Lens.Indexed.None’

> filter :: (a -> Bool) -> (forall f. Foldable f => f a -> [a])
> filter p = toListOf (folded.filtered p)

> cycle :: Foldable f => f a -> [a]
> cycle = toListOf (cycled folded)

> lookup :: Eq k => k -> (forall f. Foldable f => f (k, v) -> Maybe v)
> lookup = lookupOf folded

> listToMaybe :: Foldable f => f a -> Maybe a
> listToMaybe = firstOf folded

while others — to ‘Traversable’

> transpose :: Traversable f => f [b] -> [f b]
> transpose = transposeOf traverse

> scanl1 :: (a -> a -> a) -> (forall f. Traversable f => f a -> f a)
> scanl1 = scanl1Of traverse

> scanr1_ :: (a -> a -> a) -> (forall f. Traversable f => f a -> f a)
> scanr1_ = scanr1Of traverse

More radical suggestions (pay no heed to the hacky ‘partsOf’, assume better implementation [3]) would allow us to sort a ‘data V2 a = V2 a a deriving (…, Traversable)’ if it contains ordered values:

> sort :: (Traversable t, Ord a) => t a -> t a
> sort = over (partsOf traverse) Data.List.sort

> sortBy :: (a -> a -> Ordering) -> ([a] -> [a])
> sortBy = over (partsOf traverse) . Data.List.sortBy

> sortOn :: Ord b => (a -> b) -> ([a] -> [a])
> sortOn = over (partsOf traverse) . Data.List.sortOn

> reverse :: Traversable t => t a -> t a
> reverse = over (partsOf traverse) Data.List.reverse

> -- Based on ‘Control.Lens.??’

> flip :: Functor f => f (a -> b) -> a -> f b
> flip f x = fmap ($ x) f

or

> flip :: (Functor f, Distributive g) => f (g a) -> g (f a)
> flip = Data.Distributive.distribute

AMP happened some years ago, does this go too far or not far enough? ;) share your thoughts

P.s. I understand those skeptical of the ‘partsOf’ solutions but they do feel magical and uses crop up in odd places, especially in compound structures (I don't have better examples):

> ghci> peopleList = Pair ["Bob", "Eve"] (Just "Alice")

> ghci> data Product f g a = Pair (f a) (g a) deriving (Show, Functor, Foldable, Traversable)
> ghci> sort peopleList
> Pair ["Alice","Bob"] (Just "Eve")
> ghci> reverse peopleList
> Pair ["Alice","Eve"] (Just "Bob")

> ghci> peopleMap = fromList [(1,"Bob"),(2,"Eve"),(3,"Alice")]
> ghci> sort peopleMap
> fromList [(1,"Alice"),(2,"Bob"),(3,"Eve")]
> ghci> reverse peopleMap
> fromList [(1,"Alice"),(2,"Eve"),(3,"Bob")]

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/2y2pe5/shouldnt_ftp_propagate_changes_over_the_entire/cp6vpb4/
[2] https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/12828
[3] http://stackoverflow.com/a/33320155/165806

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