[Haskell-cafe] SYB <<looping>> very, very mysteriously

[Jeremy Shaw]

I have the following program which loops under GHC 6.10.4:

http://www.hpaste.org/fastcgi/hpaste.fcgi/view?id=13561#a13561

{-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable, FlexibleInstances,  
MultiParamTypeClasses, UndecidableInstances #-}
module Main where

import qualified Data.Data as Data
import Data.Typeable (Typeable)
import Happstack.Data.Default
import Data.Generics.SYB.WithClass.Basics
import Data.Generics.SYB.WithClass.Instances ()

data Proposition = Proposition Expression  deriving (Show, Data.Data,  
Typeable)
data Expression = Conjunction (Maybe Expression) deriving (Show,  
Data.Data, Typeable)

-- instance (Sat (ctx [Expression]), Sat (ctx Expression), Sat (ctx  
Proposition)) => Data ctx Proposition where
instance Data DefaultD Proposition where
     gunfold _ k z c =
         case constrIndex c of
           1 -> k (z Proposition)
instance Default Proposition

constrExpr :: Constr
constrExpr = mkConstr dataTypeExpr "Conjuction" [] Prefix

dataTypeExpr :: DataType
dataTypeExpr = mkDataType "Expression" [constrExpr]

instance ( Data ctx [Expression]
          , Sat  (ctx Expression)
          , Sat  (ctx (Maybe Expression))) => Data ctx Expression where
{-
instance Data DefaultD Expression where
-}
     gunfold _ k z c =
         case constrIndex c of
           1 -> k (z Conjunction)
     dataTypeOf _ _ = dataTypeExpr

instance Default Expression

e :: Expression
e =  defaultValueD dict

main = print e

I wish to explain the *many* ways in which it is mysterious. If you  
load the program into GHCi and evaluate 'e' it will hang. If you  
compile the program and run it, it will output <<loop>>. This behavior  
seems annoying, but not very weird. But, here is where it gets fun:

1. if you load the program into GHCi and eval 'e' it will hang. But,  
if you load the program and type, '(defaultValueD dict) :: Expression'  
at the prompt, it works fine!

2. if you remove the (Data DefaultD Proposition) instance, it  works  
fine. (Even though Expression does not refer to Proposition in any way)

3. if you simply change the definition of 'gunfold' in the 'Data ctx  
Proposition' instance to, error "foo". The application works fine.  
That's right, if you change the body of a function that isn't even  
being called, evaluating 'e' starts working. (Even though Expression  
does not refer to Proposition in any way. And even though that gunfold  
instance is never actually called).

4. if you change the constraint on, Data ctx Expression,  from (Data  
ctx [Expression]) to (Data ctx Expression) it works fine. (Or remove  
it all together).

5. if you change 'instance (Data DefaultD Proposition) where' to the  
line above it which is commented out, it works fine.

6. if you change the type of Proposition to, data Proposition =  
Proposition (Expression, Expression), then it works fine.

So far I have only tested this in GHC 6.10.4.

Any idea what is going on here? I can't imagine how changing the body  
of functions that aren't being called would fix things...

- jeremy