[Haskell-cafe] Help with associated types

[Emil Axelsson]

Hello!

I'm trying to rewrite some FD classes to use associated types instead. The Port 
class is for type structures whose leaves have the same type:

   class Port p
     where
       type Leaf   p
       type Struct p
       toList   :: p -> [Leaf p]
       fromList :: [Leaf p] -> p

(Leaf p) gives the leaf type, and (Struct p) gives a canonical representation of 
the structure regardless of leaf type. Here we just instantiate two leaf types:

   instance Port Int
     where
       type Leaf   Int = Int
       type Struct Int = ()
       toList   a      = [a]
       fromList [a]    = a

   instance Port Bool
     where
       type Leaf   Bool = Bool
       type Struct Bool = ()
       toList   a       = [a]
       fromList [a]     = a

There's also a function for mapping over ports:

   mapPort ::
       ( Port pa
       , Port pb
       , Struct pa ~ Struct pb
       ) =>
         (Leaf pa -> Leaf pb) -> (pa -> pb)

   mapPort f = fromList . map f . toList

The equality constraint makes sure that we're mapping between equal structures. 
When I try to run this, I get:

   *Main> mapPort even (5::Int)

   <interactive>:1:8:
       No instance for (Integral (Leaf Int))
       ...

because as it stands, mapPort is not able to infer (pb = Bool) from (Struct pb = 
()) and (Leaf pb = Bool).

What's the easiest way to encode that pb can be inferred from (Struct pb) and 
(Leaf pb)?

Thanks,

/ Emil




PS.

I used to have a class

   class SameStruct pa a pb b | pa -> a, pa b -> pb, pb -> b, pb a -> pa

In the example above, we'd have pa=Int and b==Bool, so the second dependeny 
would infer pb=Bool.