Re: [Haskell] Swapping parameters and type classes

["Brent Yorgey"]

On 9/16/07, Mads Lindstrøm <mads_lindstroem@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi all

If I have this type:

  data Foo a b = ...

and this class

  class Bar (x :: * -> *) where ...

I can imagine two ways to make Foo an instance of Bar. Either I must
"apply" the 'a' or the 'b' in (Foo a b). Otherwise it will not have the
right kind. To "apply" the 'a' I can do:

  instance Bar (Foo a) where ...

But what if I want to "apply" the 'b' ? How do I do that ?

One easy way would be to create a newtype with the type parameters swapped:

  newtype Oof b a = Oof (Foo a b)
  instance Bar (Oof b) where ...

Of course, if you want to partially apply the second parameter of a function, you use 'flip'.  I thought for a while about whether there's some sort of typeclass hackery which is directly parallel to the use of 'flip', but couldn't come up with anything.  Anyone?

-Brent

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