Benjamin Franksen wrote:

main = let ?b = True in use_b

--use_b :: (?g::Bool) => IO ()
use_b = print ?b

It isn't: ghc -fimplicit-params says

    Unbound implicit parameter (?b :: a)
      arising from use of implicit parameter `?b' at TestBug.hs:4
    In the first argument of `print', namely `?b'
    In the definition of `use_b': use_b = print ?b

It works if I uncomment the signature.

Using ghc-6.2.2, btw.

My question: Is this as it should be or is it a bug?

The Monomorphism Restriction.
It's intended to prevent people from shooting themselves in the foot by defining things that look like constants (like use_b) but really are polymorphic values that still depend on some context and therefore are not constant.
So in this case (use_b defined with no arguments), you need to specify a type signature.


The monomorphism restriction would be useful in situations like:

foo = expensiveOp bar

How often will foo be evaluated?
With the monomorphism restriction, at most once. Without it, well, that depends on the type of bar. With bar :: (?g :: Bool) => Int, foo also gets the (?g :: Bool) => context, and it's reevaluated whenever it's used; but you won't be able to tell that by looking at foo alone.


Cheers,

Wolfgang

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