How does topological sorting of kind variables really work?

[Ryan Scott]

Well, I'd be hesitant to call it "reliable":

    $ /opt/ghc/8.0.1/bin/ghci -XRankNTypes -XTypeInType
-fprint-explicit-foralls -fprint-explicit-kinds
    GHCi, version 8.0.0.20160411: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/  :? for help
    Loaded GHCi configuration from /home/ryanglscott/.ghci
    > import Data.Proxy
    > let wat :: forall (a :: j -> k -> l) (b :: (x, y, z)). Proxy a
-> Proxy b; wat = undefined
    > :t wat
    wat
      :: forall {j} {k} {l} {x} {y} {z} {a :: j -> k -> l} {b :: (x, y,
                                                                  z)}.
         Proxy (j -> k -> l) a -> Proxy (x, y, z) b
    > data Wat (a :: j -> k -> l) (b :: (x, y, z)) = Wat (Proxy a) (Proxy b)
    > :t Wat
    Wat
      :: forall {x} {y} {z} {l} {k} {j} {a :: j -> k -> l} {b :: (x, y,
                                                                  z)}.
         Proxy (j -> k -> l) a -> Proxy (x, y, z) b -> Wat x y z l k j a b

In the example above, a plain old function gives me the ordering I'd
expect, but a data constructor does not. Now, maybe there's something
tricky involving data that makes this different - I'm not qualified
enough to say for sure. But it has made me a lot more paranoid about
checking the order of the variables with :t before I use
-XTypeApplications, since you never know what you're going to get
sometimes.

Ryan S.

On Tue, Apr 12, 2016 at 10:45 PM, Richard Eisenberg <eir at cis.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> On Apr 12, 2016, at 10:44 PM, Ryan Scott <ryan.gl.scott at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> It's a bit of a shame that type inference doesn't give you a reliable
>> order, but I suppose if you rely on -XTypeApplications working a
>> certain way, you're taking a risk by NOT using a forall.
>
> Inference is meant to give you a reliable ordering. If it's not, that's a bug!