Idea: Allow local type and instance declarations, i.e. in `let` or `where`
clause.
Primary motivation: defining `ordNubBy` and such, i.e. functions which take an
effective class dictionary
In Haskell now, we can readily write `ordNubOn :: Ord b => (a -> b) -> [a] -> [a]` in terms of
`Set` [0], but not `ordNubBy :: (a -> a -> Ordering) -> [a] -> [a]`, as `Set` requires an `Ord`
instance. This is for good reason — incoherence would destroy the guaranties of `Set` — but in the case of
`ordNubBy`, the `Set` would never escape, so it's fine. I needed `ordNubBy` in a past job, so we actually
copied much of the `Set` code and modified it to take an `(a -> a -> Ordering)` rather than have an
`Ord` constraint, which works but is unfortunate. This proposal would allow the following:
```
ordNubBy :: (a -> a -> Ordering) -> [a] -> [a]
ordNubBy f = let newtype T = T { unT :: a }
instance Ord T where compare = f
in fmap unT . ordNub . fmap T
```
Secondary motivation: defining local utility types in general
Note: The primary motivation is a subcase of this, with local instances defined
in terms of local arguments.
It is sometimes convenient or necessary to define a utility type which is only
used in the scope of a single term. It would be nice to be able to define this
in a `let` or `where` clause rather than at top level, for the same reason it
is nice to be able to define helper functions there.
Semantics:
My thought is the local type is unique to each use of the term it is defined
in, to not cause incoherence. I believe the implementation should be feasible
as typeclass constraints are lowered to dictionary arguments anyhow. But i am
neither a type theorist nor an expert in GHC so please point out any flaws in
my idea.
I'm also thinking the type of the term where the local type is defined is not
allowed to contain the local type. I'm not sure what the soundness implications
of allowing this (unique) type to escape would be, but it seems like it might
lead to confusing error messages when types which seem to have the same name
can't be unified, and generally trips my informal mental footgun alarm.
Thoughts?
[0] https://gist.github.com/strake/333dfd697a1ade4fea69e6c36536fc16
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