type checking fails with a correct type

[Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH]

On Apr 30, 2009, at 09:52 , Jan Jakubuv wrote:
>    *Main> :t nonsense
>    nonsense :: (SUBST s) => t -> Maybe s
>
> But, when I put this signature into the code (that is, when the  
> commented
> line above is uncommented) then type checking fails with the following
> error:
>
>    Ambiguous type variable `s' in the constraint:
>      `SUBST s'

http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2008-April/041397.html
http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/1897

The type really is ambiguous according to GHC's rules, because you're  
missing some relationships.  As I understand it (which may well be  
wrong), f you leave off the explicit typing it will successfully infer  
everything including the missing relationship; but if you explicitly  
type it you prevent inference of the missing relationship.

-- 
brandon s. allbery [solaris,freebsd,perl,pugs,haskell] allbery at kf8nh.com
system administrator [openafs,heimdal,too many hats] allbery at ece.cmu.edu
electrical and computer engineering, carnegie mellon university    KF8NH


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