[Haskell-cafe] What's your favorite flavor of Iterator type

[Silvio Frischknecht]

Hello,

We know about Foldable, but sometimes you just want more functionality 
like: give me the rest of the string! Or a function to build pieces back 
together. I've been experimenting a bit and come up with 6 flavors of 
Iterators that do the same thing. Of course they all work for containers 
like ByteStrings, Text.


1) Haskell98 version (I like)

     data Iterator98 list ele = Iterator98 {
         next98 :: Maybe (ele, Iterator98 list ele),
         ...
         rest98 :: list,
         concat98 :: [list] -> list
     }

     -- How we can create an Iterator98
     listIter98 :: [a] -> Iterator98 [a] a

     -- How the sum type looks
     sum98 :: (Num n) => Iterator98 listN n -> n

Performance: *3

I'll also usually give the type of the constructor and sum functions. I 
also benchmarked the sum functions for [] and compared them to the best 
sum function I could come up with (which is significantly faster than 
the sum in Prelude!!! because it's strict. Whoever came up with the idea 
of making it non-strict, must have been drunk at the time :)).

I like how handy and simple typed the Haskell98 version is. There are 
absolutely no superfluous Types or Contexts. However, *3 is quite a 
heavy penalty and it might even get worse when more functions are added.


2) Haskell98 Explicit (ambivalent)

     data IteratorExplicit98 iter list ele = IteratorExplicit98 {
         iterExplicit98 :: iter,
         nextExplicit98 :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)
         ...
         restExplicit98 :: iter -> list
     }

     listIterExplicit98 :: [a] -> IteratorExplicit98 [a] [a] a

     sumExplicit98 :: (Num n) => IteratorExplicit98 it list n -> n

Performance: *1

It is explicit and it is still quite nice to use. There is however 
always that extra argument. Note: `iter` and `list` could potentially be 
different (in all examples). They are in Haskell however usually the 
same. Performance could be different, if you create and destroy a lot of 
data of type IteratorExplicit98. However, that won't usually be the case.


3) TypeFamilies (I don't like)

     class IteratorTF i where
         type ListTF i
         type ElemTF i
         nextTF :: i -> Maybe (ElemTF i, i)
         ...
         restTF :: i -> ListTF i

     instance IteratorTF2Class [ele] ele where
         ...

     sumTF :: (Num n, IteratorTF it, ElemTF it ~ n) => it -> n

Performance: *1

I used to like type families. But now I'm a bit fed up with ~ contexts. 
This would be the "Rust" version. Interesting point: List and Elem 
functions could be separated into two classes. I.e. Note that no list 
type exists in the type of "sum".


4) TypeFamilies2 (ambivalent)

     class IteratorTF2Class list ele where
         data IteratorTF2 list ele
         nextTF2 :: IteratorTF2 list ele -> Maybe (ele, IteratorTF2 list 
ele)
         ...
         restTF2 :: IteratorTF2 list ele -> list

     instance IteratorTF2Class [ele] ele where
         data IteratorTF2 [ele] ele = ListIterTF2 [ele]

     sumTF2 :: (Num n, IteratorTF2Class list n) => IteratorTF2 list n -> n

Performance: *1

Better than the last. However, IteratorTF2Class, IteratorTF2 are two 
Type-ish things where one would be preferred. This is my preferred 
method where all functions are carried in the type.


5) MultiParameterTypeClasses and Functional Dependencies (ambivalent)

     class IteratorMPTC iter list ele | iter -> list, iter -> ele where
         nextMPTC :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)
         ...
         restMPTC :: iter -> list

     instance IteratorMPTC [a] [a] a where

     sumMPTC :: (Num n, IteratorMPTC it list n) => it -> n

Performance: *1

About the same as 3). The user will still be exposed to various 
individual types ":: it". That is not as bad as it is in "Rust", since 
(as already stated) in Haskell usually "list == it". This is similar to 
the parsec approach.

class (Monad m) => Stream iter m ele | iter -> ele

Parsec has no "rest" function so the "list" type is not needed. But they 
have an additional monad type.

6) Existential Quantification (my favorite)

     data IteratorEQ list ele = forall iter . IteratorEQ {
         iterEQ :: iter,
         nextEQ :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)
         ...
         restEQ :: iter -> list
     }

     listIterEQ :: [a] -> IteratorEQ [a] a

     sumEQ :: (Num n) => IteratorEQ list n -> n

Performance: *1

Looks as nice as Haskell98 and is as fast as Haskell98Explicit. Btw. 
This is probably how It would be done in "C" with iter = void*.

Additional thoughts:

* Do we really need the "list" type. Couldn't we simply return iterators 
instead of the original "list" type. In 3) and 5), they will *usually* 
be the same anyway.

* In 3) and 5) the typeclasses could be split to separate ele and list.

* On the other hand combining Iterators will be very annoying for 3) and 5)

     data ZipIterator ...
     instance IteratorMPTC (ZipIterator (?) (elem, elem')) ? (elem, 
elem') where
     zip :: (IteratorMPTC iter list elem, IteratorMPTC iter' list' 
elem') -> ZipIterator ? (elem, elem')


Which is your favorite? Why? Did I forget any good ones?

Cheers

Silvio
-------------- next part --------------
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances #-}
{-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies #-}
{-# LANGUAGE ExistentialQuantification #-}
{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FunctionalDependencies #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts #-}
import Criterion.Main
import Data.Foldable
import Data.Word
import qualified Data.ByteString as BS

listNext :: [a] -> Maybe (a,[a])
listNext (a:as) = Just (a,as)
listNext [] = Nothing

data Iterator98 list ele = Iterator98 {
	next98 :: Maybe (ele, Iterator98 list ele)
	}

listIter98 :: [a] -> Iterator98 [a] a
listIter98 (x:xs) = Iterator98 $ Just (x, listIter98 xs)
listIter98 [] = Iterator98 $ Nothing

sum98 :: (Num n) => Iterator98 listN n -> n
sum98 iter = rec iter 0 where
	rec (Iterator98 iter') sum' = case iter' of
		(Just (ele,rest)) -> rec rest $! (sum' + ele)
		Nothing -> sum'

data IteratorExplicit98 iter list ele = IteratorExplicit98 {
	iterExplicit98 :: iter,
	nextExplicit98 :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)
	}

listIterExplicit98 :: [a] -> IteratorExplicit98 [a] [a] a
listIterExplicit98 list = IteratorExplicit98 list listNext

sumExplicit98 :: (Num n) => IteratorExplicit98 it list n -> n
sumExplicit98 (IteratorExplicit98 iter nextF) = rec iter 0 where
	rec iter' sum' = case nextF iter' of
		(Just (ele,rest)) -> rec rest $! (sum' + ele)
		Nothing -> sum'


class IteratorTF i where
	type ListTF i
	type ElemTF i
	nextTF :: i -> Maybe (ElemTF i, i)

instance IteratorTF [a] where
	type ListTF [a] = [a]
	type ElemTF [a] = a
	nextTF (c:str) = Just (c,str)
	nextTF [] = Nothing

sumTF :: (Num n, IteratorTF it, ElemTF it ~ n) => it -> n
sumTF it' = rec it' 0 where
	rec it sum' = case nextTF it of
		(Just (c,n)) -> rec n $! (sum' + c)
		Nothing -> sum'

class IteratorTF2Class list ele where
	data IteratorTF2 list ele
	nextTF2 :: IteratorTF2 list ele -> Maybe (ele, IteratorTF2 list ele)

instance IteratorTF2Class [ele] ele where
	data IteratorTF2 [ele] ele = ListIterTF2 [ele]
	nextTF2 (ListIterTF2 []) = Nothing
	nextTF2 (ListIterTF2 (x:xs)) = Just (x, ListIterTF2 xs)

sumTF2 :: (Num n, IteratorTF2Class list n) => IteratorTF2 list n -> n
sumTF2 it' = rec it' 0 where
	rec it sum' = case nextTF2 it of
		(Just (c,n)) -> rec n $! (sum' + c)
		Nothing -> sum'

class IteratorMPTC iter list ele | iter -> list, iter -> ele where
	nextMPTC :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)

instance IteratorMPTC [a] [a] a where
	nextMPTC (c:str) = Just (c,str)
	nextMPTC [] = Nothing

sumMPTC :: (Num n, IteratorMPTC it list n) => it -> n
sumMPTC it' = rec it' 0 where
	rec it sum' = case nextMPTC it of
		(Just (c,n)) -> rec n $! (sum' + c)
		Nothing -> sum'

data IteratorEQ list ele = forall iter . IteratorEQ {
	iterEQ :: iter,
	nextEQ :: iter -> Maybe (ele, iter)
	}
	
listIterEQ :: [a] -> IteratorEQ [a] a
listIterEQ list = IteratorEQ list listNext

sumEQ :: (Num n) => IteratorEQ list n -> n
sumEQ (IteratorEQ iter nextF) = rec iter 0 where
	rec iter' sum' = case nextF iter' of
		(Just (c,n)) -> rec n $! (sum' + c)
		Nothing -> sum'

explicitSum :: (Num n) => [n] -> n
explicitSum l' = rec l' 0 where
	rec (c:n) s = rec n $! (s + c)
	rec [] s = s

n = 1000000
l = replicate n 5
bs = BS.pack l

main = do
	last l `seq` return ()
	defaultMain [
		bgroup "list" [
			bench "Prelude sum" $ whnf sum l,
			bench "Prelude foldl'" $ whnf (foldl' (+) 0) l,
			bench "explicit sum" $ whnf explicitSum l,
			bench "Iterator 98" $ whnf (sum98 . listIter98) l,
			bench "Iterator explicit 98" $ whnf (sumExplicit98 . listIterExplicit98) l,
			bench "Iterator type families" $ whnf sumTF l,
			bench "Iterator type families 2" $ whnf (sumTF2 . ListIterTF2) l,
			bench "Iterator multiparameter typeclasse" $ whnf sumMPTC l,
			bench "Iterator Existential Quantification" $ whnf (sumEQ . listIterEQ) l
			],
		bgroup "bytestring" [
			bench "foldl'" $ whnf (BS.foldl' (+) 0) bs
			]
		]