[Haskell-cafe] Repeating type variables in MultiParamTypeClasses instance heads

[Finn Teegen]

Even without a method you can trigger the overlapping error. Consider
the following program.

class C a b c

instance C [a] [a] [b]

instance C [a] [b] [b]

f :: C a b c => a -> b -> c -> Bool
f _ _ _ = True

g = f [True] [True] [True]

The use of 'f' in 'g' produces the following message.

Overlapping instances for D [Bool] [Bool] [Bool]
        arising from a use of ‘f’
      Matching instances:
        instance D [a] [a] [b]
        instance D [a] [b] [b]
    • In the expression: f [True] [True] [True]

Cheers,
Finn

On 06/05/2021 23:05, Viktor Dukhovni wrote:
> On Thu, May 06, 2021 at 10:51:32PM +0200, Henning Thielemann wrote:
> 
>> {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
>> module FlexibleInstance where
>>
>> class C a b c where
> 
> This class has an empty interface, it just builds triples of types that
> imply a constraint.  No matter how many such triples one creates, there
> can't be any conflict between them.
> 
>> instance C [a] [a] [b] where
>> instance C [a] [b] [b] where
> 
> These don't conflict.
>