[Haskell-cafe] Alternative name for return

[J. Stutterheim]

Thanks Chris. Yes, I like lift as well, because I find it a rather intuitive name. Unfortunately, as you say, it is already a commonly used name as well, which might make it slightly confusing.

When I hear `unit` I immediately think about generic programming, not so much about monads. Can you perhaps explain the intuition behind `unit` as an alternative to `return` in the context of monads?

- Jurriën

On 6 Aug 2013, at 07:32, Christian Sternagel <c.sternagel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Jurriën.
> 
> personally, I like "lift" (which is of course already occupied in Haskell), since an arbitrary value is "lifted" into a monad. (The literature sometimes uses "unit".)
> 
> cheers
> 
> chris
> 
> On 08/06/2013 02:14 PM, J. Stutterheim wrote:
>> Dear Cafe,
>> 
>> 
>> Suppose we now have the opportunity to change the name of the `return` function in Monad, what would be a "better"  name for it? (for some definition of better)
>> 
>> N.B. I am _not_ proposing that we actually change the name of `return`. I do currently have the opportunity to pick names for common functions in a non-Haskell related project, so I was wondering if there perhaps is a better name for `return`.
>> 
>> 
>> - Jurriën
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> 
> 
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