Re: [Haskell-cafe] Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On Jun 8, 2010, at 15:32 , Job Vranish wrote: It seems like this would make working with MPTCs much easier. When programming, I generally want to only specify the minimum amount of information to make my code logically unambiguous. If the code contains enough information to infer the proper instantiation without the use of an FD, then I shouldn't need to add a FD. It seems like this would have much more of a "it just works" feel than the currently alternatives. I can't help but think that the "it just works" mentality leads to duck typing. -- brandon s. allbery [solaris,freebsd,perl,pugs,haskell] allb...@kf8nh.com system administrator [openafs,heimdal,too many hats] allb...@ece.cmu.edu electrical and computer engineering, carnegie mellon universityKF8NH PGP.sig Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ Haskell-prime mailing list Haskell-prime@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-prime
Re: [Haskell-cafe] Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
>>The situation is as if we [had] a FD: > Well, that is indeed equivalent here in the second argument of class > F, but I constructed the example to show an issue in the class's > *first* argument. The example should be equivalent in all respects (at least that was my motivation when I wrote it). > Notice you needed to add type-signatures, on the functions you named > "g" -- in particular their first arguments -- to make the example > work with only FDs? I wrote g, with type signatures, just to avoid writing the type signatures (f:: Bool->Bool and f::Int->Bool) inside (f o). I wanted to use, textually, the same expression. > These are two different expressions that are being printed, because > " :: Bool -> Bool" is different from " :: Int -> Bool". In my > example of using your proposal, one cannot inline in the same way, I wrote the example just to show that one can obtain the same effect with FDs: one not "inline", i.e. use "g o", in the same way. > If your proposal was able to require those -- and only those -- bits > of type signatures that were essential to resolve the above > ambiguity; for example, the ( :: Int) below, > module Q where > import C > instance F Int Bool where f = even > instance O Int where o = 0 > k = f (o :: Int) >, then I would be fine with your proposal (but then I suspect it > would have to be equivalent to FDs -- or in other words, that it's not > really practical to change your proposal to have that effect). > I stand by my assertion that "the same expression means different > things in two different modules" is undesirable, (and that I suspect > but am unsure that this undesirability is named "incoherent > instances"). "k::Bool; k=f o" in Q has exactly the same effect as "k=f(o::Int)", under our proposal. "(f o)::Bool" in P and in Q are not "the same expression", they are distinct expressions, because they occur in distinct contexts which make "f" and "o" in (f o)::Bool denote distinct values, just as "(g o)::Bool" are distinct expressions in P and Q in the example with a FD (because "g" and "o" in (g o)::Bool denote distinct values in P and in Q). Cheers, Carlos ___ Haskell-prime mailing list Haskell-prime@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-prime
Re: [Haskell-cafe] Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On 05/29/10 21:24, Carlos Camarao wrote:
The situation is as if we a FD:
Well, that is indeed equivalent here in the second argument of class F,
but I constructed the example to show an issue in the class's *first*
argument.
Notice you needed to add type-signatures, on the functions you named "g"
-- in particular their first arguments -- to make the example work with
only FDs?
module C where
class F a b | a->b where f :: a -> b
class O a where o :: a
module P where
import C; instance F Bool Bool where f = not
instance O Bool where o = True
g:: Bool -> Bool
g = f
k::Bool
k = g o
module Q where
import C
instance F Int Bool where f = even
instance O Int where o = 0
g::Int->Bool
g = f
k :: Bool
k = g o
you can inline these "k"-definitions into module Main and it will work
(modulo importing C).
module Main where
import C
import P
import Q
main = do { print (((f :: Bool -> Bool) o) :: Bool);
print (((f :: Int -> Bool) o) :: Bool) }
These are two different expressions that are being printed, because
" :: Bool -> Bool" is different from " :: Int -> Bool". In my example
of using your proposal, one cannot inline in the same way, if I
understand correctly (the inlining would cause ambiguity errors --
unless of course the above distinct type-signatures are added).
If your proposal was able to require those -- and only those -- bits of
type signatures that were essential to resolve the above ambiguity; for
example, the ( :: Int) below,
module Q where
import C
instance F Int Bool where f = even
instance O Int where o = 0
k = f (o :: Int)
, then I would be fine with your proposal (but then I suspect it would
have to be equivalent to FDs -- or in other words, that it's not really
practical to change your proposal to have that effect).
I stand by my assertion that "the same expression means different things
in two different modules" is undesirable, (and that I suspect but am
unsure that this undesirability is named "incoherent instances").
I'm trying to work out whether it's possible to violate the invariants
of a Map by using your extension (having it select a different instance
in two different places, given the same type).. I think, no it is not
possible for Ord or any single-parameter typeclass, though there might
be some kind of issues with multi-parameter typeclasses, if the library
relies on a FD-style relationship between two class type-parameters and
then two someones each add an instance that together violate that
implied FD-relationship (which is allowed under your scheme, unlike if
there was an actual FD). Er, odd, I need to play with some actual FD
code to think about this, but I'm too sleepy / busy packing for a trip.
Did any of the above make sense to you? It's fine if some didn't, type
systems are complicated... and please point out if something I said was
outright wrong.
-Isaac
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Re: [Haskell-cafe] Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 2:36 AM, Isaac Dupree <
m...@isaac.cedarswampstudios.org> wrote:
> On 05/27/10 17:42, Carlos Camarao wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:43 PM, David Menendez
>> wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Carlos Camarao
>>> wrote:
>>>
Isaac Dupree:
> Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection.
> This means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and
> well-typed in another module, but have different semantics in the
> two modules. For example (drawing from above discussion) :
>
> module C where
>
> class F a b where f :: a -> b
> class O a where o :: a
>
> module P where
> import C
>
> instance F Bool Bool where f = not
> instance O Bool where o = True
> k :: Bool
> k = f o
>
> module Q where
> import C
> instance F Int Bool where f = even
> instance O Int where o = 0
> k :: Bool
> k = f o
>
> module Main where
> import P
> import Q
> -- (here, all four instances are in scope)
> main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
> -- should result, according to your proposal, in
> -- False
> -- True
> -- , am I correct?
>
If qualified importation of k from both P and from Q was specified, we
would have two *distinct* terms, P.k and Q.k.
>>>
>>> I think Isaac's point is that P.k and Q.k have the same definition (f
>>> o). If they don't produce the same value, then referential
>>> transparency is lost.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dave Menendez
>>>
Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On 05/27/10 17:42, Carlos Camarao wrote:
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:43 PM, David Menendez wrote:
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Carlos Camarao
wrote:
Isaac Dupree:
Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection.
This means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and
well-typed in another module, but have different semantics in the
two modules. For example (drawing from above discussion) :
module C where
class F a b where f :: a -> b
class O a where o :: a
module P where
import C
instance F Bool Bool where f = not
instance O Bool where o = True
k :: Bool
k = f o
module Q where
import C
instance F Int Bool where f = even
instance O Int where o = 0
k :: Bool
k = f o
module Main where
import P
import Q
-- (here, all four instances are in scope)
main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
-- should result, according to your proposal, in
-- False
-- True
-- , am I correct?
If qualified importation of k from both P and from Q was specified, we
would have two *distinct* terms, P.k and Q.k.
I think Isaac's point is that P.k and Q.k have the same definition (f
o). If they don't produce the same value, then referential
transparency is lost.
--
Dave Menendez
Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:43 PM, David Menendez wrote:
> On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Carlos Camarao
> wrote:
> > Isaac Dupree:
> >> Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection.
> >> This means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and
> >> well-typed in another module, but have different semantics in the
> >> two modules. For example (drawing from above discussion) :
> >>
> >> module C where
> >>
> >> class F a b where f :: a -> b
> >> class O a where o :: a
> >>
> >> module P where
> >> import C
> >>
> >> instance F Bool Bool where f = not
> >> instance O Bool where o = True
> >> k :: Bool
> >> k = f o
> >>
> >> module Q where
> >> import C
> >> instance F Int Bool where f = even
> >> instance O Int where o = 0
> >> k :: Bool
> >> k = f o
> >>
> >> module Main where
> >> import P
> >> import Q
> >> -- (here, all four instances are in scope)
> >> main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
> >> -- should result, according to your proposal, in
> >> -- False
> >> -- True
> >> -- , am I correct?
> >
> > If qualified importation of k from both P and from Q was specified, we
> > would have two *distinct* terms, P.k and Q.k.
>
> I think Isaac's point is that P.k and Q.k have the same definition (f
> o). If they don't produce the same value, then referential
> transparency is lost.
>
> --
> Dave Menendez
>
Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Carlos Camarao
wrote:
> Isaac Dupree:
>> Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection.
>> This means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and
>> well-typed in another module, but have different semantics in the
>> two modules. For example (drawing from above discussion) :
>>
>> module C where
>>
>> class F a b where f :: a -> b
>> class O a where o :: a
>>
>> module P where
>> import C
>>
>> instance F Bool Bool where f = not
>> instance O Bool where o = True
>> k :: Bool
>> k = f o
>>
>> module Q where
>> import C
>> instance F Int Bool where f = even
>> instance O Int where o = 0
>> k :: Bool
>> k = f o
>>
>> module Main where
>> import P
>> import Q
>> -- (here, all four instances are in scope)
>> main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
>> -- should result, according to your proposal, in
>> -- False
>> -- True
>> -- , am I correct?
>
> If qualified importation of k from both P and from Q was specified, we
> would have two *distinct* terms, P.k and Q.k.
I think Isaac's point is that P.k and Q.k have the same definition (f
o). If they don't produce the same value, then referential
transparency is lost.
--
Dave Menendez
Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On 05/26/10 15:42, Carlos Camarao wrote:
> I think you are proposing using the current set of instances in
> scope in order to remove ambiguity. Am I right?
I think that an important point is that it is not exactly "to remove
ambiguity", because the proposal tries to solve the problem exactly
when there is really no ambiguity. There would be ambiguity if there
were two or more conflicting definitions, and the proposal is to use,
upon occurrence of an unreachable type variable in a constraint, an
instance in the current context that is the single instance that could
be used to instantiate that type variable.
This was perhaps made unclear when I incorrectly wrote in haskell-cafe
that the proposal eliminates the need for defaulting. I should have
said that defaulting is not necessary to force instantiation (of
unreachable variables) when there are no conflicting definitions in
the current context. That is, defaulting should be used exactly to
remove ambiguity, i.e. when there exist conflicting definitions and
when unreachable type variables appear that can be instantiated to
such conflicting definitions.
> Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection.
> This means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and
> well-typed in another module, but have different semantics in the
> two modules. For example (drawing from above discussion) :
>
> module C where
>
> class F a b where f :: a -> b
> class O a where o :: a
>
> module P where
> import C
>
> instance F Bool Bool where f = not
> instance O Bool where o = True
> k :: Bool
> k = f o
>
> module Q where
> import C
> instance F Int Bool where f = even
> instance O Int where o = 0
> k :: Bool
> k = f o
>
> module Main where
> import P
> import Q
> -- (here, all four instances are in scope)
> main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
> -- should result, according to your proposal, in
> -- False
> -- True
> -- , am I correct?
If qualified importation of k from both P and from Q was specified, we
would have two *distinct* terms, P.k and Q.k.
Unqualified importation must cause an error (two distinct definitions
for the same non-overloaded name).
For overloaded names with distinct instances, *ambiguity* would be reported,
as e.g. in:
module C where class O a where o::a
module P where instance O Bool where o = True
module Q where instance O Bool where o = False
moduke Main where
import P
import Q
main = do { print o::Bool }
> Also, in your paper, example 2 includes
>m = (m1 * m2) * m3
> and you state
>> In Example 2, there is no means of specializing type variable c0
>> occurring in the type of m to Matrix.
> In Example 2, there is no means of specializing type variable c0
> occurring in the type of m to Matrix.
> I suggest that there is an appropriate such means, namely, to write
> m = (m1 * m2 :: Matrix) * m3
Yes, that solution is fine. Sorry, I should have written "There is no means
of specializing type variable c0 occurring in the type of m to Matrix,
without an explicit type annotation in the expression defining m."
> (Could the paper address how that solution falls short?
> Are there other cases in which there is more than just a little
> syntactical convenience at stake?
> , or is even that much added code too much for some use-case?)
The point should have been that you cannot make a class with
FDs eliminate the need for having to make explicit type annotations,
in cases such as these. The example should also be such that it
would need more type annotations, instead of just one...
Cheers,
Carlos
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Re: Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
On 05/26/10 15:42, Carlos Camarao wrote:
What do you think?
I think you are proposing using the current set of instances in scope in
order to remove ambiguity. Am I right? ..I read the haskell-cafe
thread so far, and it looks like I'm right. This is what I'll add to
what's been said so far:
Your proposal appears to allow /incoherent/ instance selection. This
means that an expression can be well-typed in one module, and well-typed
in another module, but have different semantics in the two modules. For
example (drawing from above discussion) :
module C where
class F a b where f :: a -> b
class O a where o :: a
module P where
import C
instance F Bool Bool where f = not
instance O Bool where o = True
k :: Bool
k = f o
module Q where
import C
instance F Int Bool where f = even
instance O Int where o = 0
k :: Bool
k = f o
module Main where
import P
import Q
-- (here, all four instances are in scope)
main = do { print P.k ; print Q.k }
-- should result, according to your proposal, in
-- False
-- True
-- , am I correct?
Also, in your paper, example 2 includes
m = (m1 * m2) * m3
and you state
In Example 2, there is no means of specializing type variable c0 occurring in
the
type of m to Matrix.
I suggest that there is an appropriate such means, namely, to write
m = (m1 * m2 :: Matrix) * m3
. (Could the paper address how that solution falls short? Are there
other cases in which there is more than just a little syntactical
convenience at stake?, or is even that much added code too much for some
use-case?)
-Isaac
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Proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC dilemma
This message, sent a few days ago to haskell-cafe, presents,
informally, a proposal to solve Haskell's MPTC (multi-parameter type
class) dilemma. If this informal proposal turns out to be acceptable,
we (I am a volunteer) can proceed and make a concrete proposal. The
discussion in haskell-cafe started well, involving a discussion
related to module fragility (changes to type-correctness after a
change in imported modules) but it is now quiet. Since there may be
members of this list not in haskel-cafe, and because I'd like to hear
your opinions and discuss the proposal here, as well as encourage the
proposal's implementation, I am sending the message to this list also.
The proposal has been published in the SBLP'2009 proceedings and is
available at www.dcc.ufmg.br/~camarao/CT/solution-to-mptc-dilemma.pdf
The dilemma is well-known (see e.g.
hackage.haskell.org/trac/haskell-prime/wiki/MultiParamTypeClassesDilemma).
www.haskell.org/ghc/dist/current/docs/html/users_guide/type-class-extensions.html
presents a solution to the termination problem related to the
introduction of MPTCs in Haskell. Neither FDs (functional
dependencies) nor any other mechanism like ATs (associated types) are
needed in our proposal, in order to introduce MPTCs in Haskell; the
only change is in the ambiguity rule. This is explained below. The
termination problem is essentially ortogonal and can be dealt with,
with minor changes, as described in the web page above.
Let us review the ambiguity rules used in Haskell-98 and in GHC.
Haskell-98 ambiguity rule, adequate for single parameter type classes,
is: a type C => T is ambiguous iff there is a type variable that
occurs in C (the "context", or constraint set) but not in T (the
simple, unconstrained type).
For example: forall a.(Show a, Read a)=>String is ambiguous, because
"a" occurs in the constraints (Show a,Read a) but not in the simple
type (String).
In the context of MPTCs, this rule alone is not enough. Consider, for
example (Example 1):
class F a b where f:: a->b
class O a where o:: a
and
k = f o:: (F a b,O a) => b
Type forall a b. (F a b,O a) => b can be considered to be not
ambiguos, since overloading resolution can be defined so that
instantiation of "b" can "determine" that "a" should also be
instantiated (as FD b|->a does), thus resolving the overloading.
GHC, since at least version 6.8, makes significant progress towards a
definition of ambiguity in the context of MPTCs; GHC 6.10.3 User’s
Guide says (section 7.8.1.1):
"GHC imposes the following restrictions on the constraints in a type
signature. Consider the type: forall tv1..tvn (c1, ...,cn) =>
type. ... Each universally quantified type variable tvi must be
reachable from type. A type variable a is reachable if it appears
in the same constraint as either a type variable free in the type,
or another reachable type variable."
For example, type variable "a" in constraint (O a) in (F a b, O a)=>b
above is reachable, because it appears in (F a b) (the same constraint
as type variable "b", which occurs in the simple type).
Our proposal is: consider unreachability not as indication of
ambiguity but as a condition to trigger overloading resolution (in a
similar way that FDs trigger overloading resolution): when there is at
least one unreachable variable and overloading is found not to be
resolved, then we have ambiguity. Overloading is resolved iff there is
a unique substitution that can be used to specialize the constraint
set to one, available in the current context, such that the
specialized constraint does not contain unreachable type variables.
(A formal definition, with full details, is in the cited SBLP'09 paper.)
Consider, in Example 1, that we have a single instance of F and
O, say:
instance F Bool Bool where f = not
instance O Bool where o = True
and consider also that "k" is used as in e.g.:
kb = not k
According to our proposal, kb is well-typed. Its type is Bool. This
occurs because (F a b, O a)=>Bool can be simplified to Bool, since
there exists a single substitution that unifies the constraints with
instances (F Bool Bool) and (O Bool) available in the current context,
namely S = (a|->Bool,b|->Bool).
As another example (Example 2), consider:
{-# NoMonomorphismRestriction, MultiParameterTypeClasses #-}
data Matrix = ...
data Vector = ...
class Mult a b c where (*):: a ! b ! c
instance Mult Matrix Vector Matrix where (*) = ...
instance Mult Matrix Vector Vector where (*) = ...
m1:: Matrix = ...
m2:: Vector = ...
m3:: Vector = ...
m = (m1 * m2) * m3
GHC gives the following type to m:
m :: forall a, b. (Mult Matrix Vector a, Mult a Vector b) => b
However, "m" cannot be used effectively in a program compiled with
GHC: if we annotate m::Matrix, a type error is reported. This occurs
because the type inferred for "m" includes constraints (Mult Matrix
Vector a, Mult a Vector Matrix) and, with b|->Matrix, type variable "a"
appears only in the constraint set, and this type is cons
