[Haskell-cafe] Question about Newtype "op()" function arguments.

[David Banas]

Hi All,

Referring to the following, which is taken from the *Control.Newtype
*documentation
page:

op :: Newtype<http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/newtype/0.2/doc/html/Control-Newtype.html#t:Newtype>
n
o => (o -> n) -> n ->
oSource<http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/newtype/0.2/doc/html/src/Control-Newtype.html#op>

This function serves two purposes:

   1. Giving you the unpack of a newtype without you needing to remember
   the name.
   2. Showing that the first parameter is *completely ignored* on the value
   level, meaning the only reason you pass in the constructor is to provide
   type information. Typeclasses sure are neat.

As point #2, above, emphasizes, the only purpose for the first argument to
the function (i.e. - the constructor "(o -> n)") is to specify the type of
'n'. However, being a *newtype*, 'n' can have only one constructor. So, why
is it necessary to pass in the constructor to this function, when we're
already passing in 'n'?

Thanks,
-db
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