Thank you very much for your reply! It is really helpful!
But I just found another 'problem', I just realize that the list does not
support the user-defined data type?
the list is also depending on the Eq function?
For example,
data Shape = Square | Triangle | Circle
when I type either
[Square, Triangle, Circle]
or
Square == Square
there are errors!
So there is no way to construct a truly polymorphic List? any way to extend the
list to support some user-defined data type?
Or... I define the Shape in a wrong way actually?
Thanks
Raeck
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:02:53 -0500
From: wagner.and...@gmail.com
To: ra...@msn.com
Subject: Re: [Haskell-cafe] Defining a containing function on polymorphic list
CC: haskell-cafe@haskell.org; beginn...@haskell.org
The problem here is even slightly deeper than you might realize. For example,
what if you have a list of functions. How do you compare two functions to each
other to see if they're equal? There is no good way really to do it! So, not
only is == not completely polymorphic, but it CAN'T be.
There is a nice solution for this, however, and it's very simple:
contain :: Eq a -> [a] -> Bool
contain x [] = False
contain x (y:ys) = if x == y then True else contain x ys
The "Eq a" in the type signature says that 'a' must be a member of the 'Eq'
typeclass. That says, in turn, that 'a' must have == defined for it.
Fortunately, most types have, or can easily derive that definition. Here is the
definition of the typeclass:
class Eq a where
(==) :: a -> a -> Bool
(/=) :: a -> a -> Bool
That is, for 'a' to be a member of 'Eq', it must have a == operator which can
take 2 values of that type and return a Boolean, saying whether or not they're
equal, and it must also have a definition for the /= operator, which is "not
equal". These two are also defined in terms of each other, so if you define ==,
you get /= for free, and vice versa.
That's probably more information than you needed to know, but I hope it helps.
2008/12/22 Raeck Zhao <ra...@msn.com>
I am trying to define a containing function to see if a value is one
of the elements within a list which is polymorphic, but failed with the
following codes:
> contain :: a -> [a] -> Bool
> contain x [] = False
> contain x (y:ys) = if x == y then True else contain x ys
it seems that the problem is the 'operator' == does not support a polymorphic
check?
Any way can solve the problem? or any alternative solution to achieve the
purpose?
Thanks!
Raeck
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