Yet more on functional dependencies

[Tom Pledger]

George Russell writes:
 > I am finding functional dependencies confusing.  (I suspect I am not alone.)
 > Should the following code work?
 > 
 > class HasConverter a b | a -> b where
 >    convert :: a -> b
 > 
 > instance (HasConverter a b,Show b) => Show a where
 >    show value = show (convert value)

Yes.

Let's assume that multi-parameter classes and overlapping instances
are enabled.

Without the functional dependency, the instance decl would be rejected
because the type variable b occurs in the context (HasConverter a b,
Show b) but not in the head (Show a).  The compiler needs to generate
some code for `show value', but it's not allowed to make an arbitrary
substitution for b.

The functional dependency provides a way to determine b uniquely once
a is matched.  So, the compiler can generate the code for `show value'
without being arbitrary.

Regards,
Tom