[Haskell-cafe] Random numbers / monads - beginner question

[Madoc]

Hello,


I am just learning Haskell. Now, I encountered something that I cannot solve
by myself. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.


Given a list of numbers, I want to modify each of those numbers by adding a
random offset. However, each such modified number shall stay within certain
bounds, given by the integers minValue and maxValue. After that, I want to
continue computation with the resulting list of type [Int]. But for
demonstration, I made a program that just prints out the list:


import IO; import Random

minValue = 0::Int
maxValue = 1000::Int

normalize a | a < minValue = minValue
            | a > maxValue = maxValue
            | otherwise = a

modify a = do
  offset <- randomRIO(-100::Int, 100)
  return(normalize(a + offset))

main = putStrLn $ show $ map (modify) [0, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000]


This program will not compile. GHC complains:


test.hs:14:18:
    No instance for (Show (IO Int))
      arising from a use of `show' at test.hs:14:18-21
    Possible fix: add an instance declaration for (Show (IO Int))
    In the first argument of `($)', namely `show'
    In the second argument of `($)', namely
        `show $ map (modify) [0, 200, 400, 600, ....]'
    In the expression:
          putStrLn $ show $ map (modify) [0, 200, 400, 600, ....]


I understand that the result of the modify function is not an Int, as I
would like to have it, but instead IO Int, and that cannot be applied to
show. (I also did not quite understand why I need those brackets around the
return value of the modify value. It won't compile if I leave them out, but
I can accept that for now.)


I also figured out how to generate a modified list of type [IO Int] and of
type IO [Int]. However, I could not find out how to completely get rid of
the IO monad and just get a mofied list of type [Int], which is what I
really want.


Please, do You have any advice for me? I tried for some hours, and now I am
really angry at that IO monad that sticks to my pretty integers like glue!


Also, any comment on the programming style and how I could achive my goals
easier would be appreciated. (I left out comments and function types for the
sake of brevity.)


Thanks a lot in advance.

Madoc.
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