[Haskell-cafe] Re: Generalizing IO

[Andrew Coppin]

Heinrich Apfelmus wrote:
> Alternatively, you can use algebraic data types instead of type classes
> to generalize one program to different implementations. For monads, this
> can be achieved with
>
>      http://hackage.haskell.org/package/MonadPrompt
>
> In particular, the idea is to turn every effect like
>
>   getLine
>
> into a constructor
>
>   GetLine
>
> and have different implementations pattern match on that.
>   

Ooo, that's interesting...

I did wonder for a moment whether this would allow you to analyse what 
the monadic action does without actually "doing" it, but on reflection 
this is fundamentally impossible. The action that happens next can (and 
often does) depend on the result of a previous effect.

I guess if you wanted to run your action through an optimiser before 
actually running it, you'd need to use arrows (and all the terrifying 
syntax that entails)...