[Haskell-cafe] Alternative name for return

[Christian Sternagel]

On 08/06/2013 04:30 PM, J. Stutterheim wrote:
> 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?
Probably because of the monad laws, where `return` is a "unit" (in the 
mathematical sense) for the `bind` operation. - chris
>
> - 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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