[Haskell-beginners] Re: testing and the culture of Haskell

[Isaac Dupree]

Adrian Adshead wrote:
> add_impure :: Integer -> IO Integer
> add_impure x = return (x + 5)
> 
> add_pure is clearly a pure function. add_impure while it is
> totally side effect free and therefore fulfills the definition
> of purity, is impure as far as the compiler is concerned since
> I (the programmer) have told the compiler that I do not guarantee
> that the function is pure.
> 
> Please let me know where I am misunderstanding purity.

Because, actually, (IO Integer) represents an action but it'll only be 
executed if it's sequenced somewhere under main. e.g.

main :: IO ()
main = do
   let io_action = something_impure x y z
   -- nothing has happened yet!
   io_action
   io_action
   -- now we've executed the impure action *twice*! (But some of
   -- the pure computation based on x y and z that determined
   -- what actions io_action should be, might be shared)

(a simplistic example... io_action can do different things each time 
it's executed based on any reason it can execute in IO, such as, reading 
the system clock)

-Isaac