[Haskell-cafe] Constructor classes implementation

[Daniel Fischer]

Am Freitag, 17. Februar 2006 03:34 schrieb Sean Seefried:
> Hey all,
>
> If you're interested in an implementation of constructor classes
> (type classes which can take constructors as arguments; already
> implemented in Haskell) please see:
>
> http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~sseefried/code.html
>
> This should help understanding the paper by Mark P. Jones called "A
> system of constructor classes: overloading and implicit higher-order
> polymorphism" much easier.
>
> The implementation not only infers the type but also prints out a
> trace of the derivation tree for the syntax directed rules.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sean
>
> p.s. If you find any bugs, please let me know.

Re bugs:

1. printGamma [] would print an unmotivated " }", as witnessed by
typeInf [] term14.

2. the case
unify (ConT c) (AppT t1 t2)
is missing.

3. too many shadowed bindings, this is always dangerous, I believe

4. I'm not sure, the datatypes are appropriate; as far as I know, expressions 
have a type and not a kind, which is what the use of the same Var type for 
Type and Exp entails. 

I have only just glimpsed at Jones' paper, so I don't yet see, what this type 
inference algorithm (quite nice, btw) has to do with constructor classes. If 
I still don't after reading it, I'll come back to ask.

Cheers,
Daniel

-- 

"In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be
indented six feet downward and covered with dirt."
	-- Blair P. Houghton