Proposal: Add isLeft/isRight to Data.Either

[Andreas Abel]

On 30.11.12 7:14 PM, Henning Thielemann wrote:
> Agda uses isLeft and isRight in some QuickCheck properties. And then
> there is this application:
>
>     do
>        -- ps0 :: [NamedArg ParseLHS]
>        ps0 <- mapM classPat ps
>        let (ps1, rest) = span (isLeft . namedArg) ps0
>        (p2, ps3) <- uncons rest -- when (null rest): no field pattern or
> def pattern found
>        guard $ all (isLeft . namedArg) ps3
>        let (f, lhs)      = fromR p2
>            (ps', _:ps'') = splitAt (length ps1) ps
>        return $ Right (f, LHSProj x ps' lhs ps'')
>
> Looks at least interesting ... :-)

Well, maybe this code could be improved, avoiding isLeft and fromR(ight).

Basically, what I want to to here is:
- I have a list of things: ps
- I have a classification of these things into Left and Right: classPat
- I want to succeed if exactly one of these things is classified as a Right
- I want to extract that Right thing, modify it a bit: lhs
- I want to obtain all the Left things unchanged: ps' and ps''

These standard functions do not do the job:
- partitionEithers: loses the order of my things
- lefts/rights: ditto

The crux here is that the standard list functions like filter, span, 
break etc. use "Bool" as decision type.  They would be more general with 
Either, using Left as falsehood and Right as truth.

   span  :: (a -> Either b c) -> [a] -> ([c], [a])
   break :: (a -> Either b c) -> [a] -> ([b], [a])
   partition :: (a -> Either b c) -> [a] -> ([c], [b])

etc.

How would you do it?

Cheers,
Andreas

-- 
Andreas Abel  <><      Du bist der geliebte Mensch.

Theoretical Computer Science, University of Munich
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