[Haskell-cafe] newbie type signature question

[Brock Peabody]

> Brian Hulley wrote:

>   "Don't put class constraints on a data type,
>    constraints belong only to the functions
>    that manipulate the data."
> 
> So according to this guideline you're not supposed to think of
associating
> contraints with data: constraints are only relevant for functions
which
> manipulate the data, therefore (if you agree with this view) the very
idea
> of associating constraints with data is wrong.

I wonder what the reasoning for this guideline is.  It seems that it
would require one to repeat the constraint over and over.  For the
Prelude Data.Map type, for instance, wouldn't almost every function have
to have the constraint that the key type is ordered?

Also, I think it would push detection of the error further from the
place where it could have been detected.  Doesn't it make more sense to
detect that there is an error when a user tries to instantiate a map
with an unordered type rather than later when an attempt is made to use
it?


Regards,
Brock