7.8.1
Enable overloaded list syntax (e.g. desugaring of lists via the IsList
class).
GHC supports overloading of the list notation. Let us recap the notation for constructing lists. In Haskell, the list notation can be used in the following seven ways:
[] -- Empty list [x] -- x : [] [x,y,z] -- x : y : z : [] [x .. ] -- enumFrom x [x,y ..] -- enumFromThen x y [x .. y] -- enumFromTo x y [x,y .. z] -- enumFromThenTo x y z
When the OverloadedLists
extension is turned on, the aforementioned seven notations are desugared as follows:
[] -- fromListN 0 [] [x] -- fromListN 1 (x : []) [x,y,z] -- fromListN 3 (x : y : z : []) [x .. ] -- fromList (enumFrom x) [x,y ..] -- fromList (enumFromThen x y) [x .. y] -- fromList (enumFromTo x y) [x,y .. z] -- fromList (enumFromThenTo x y z)
This extension allows programmers to use the list notation for construction of structures like: Set
, Map
, IntMap
, Vector
, Text
and Array
. The following code listing gives a few examples:
['0' .. '9'] :: Set Char [1 .. 10] :: Vector Int [("default",0), (k1,v1)] :: Map String Int ['a' .. 'z'] :: Text
List patterns are also overloaded. When the OverloadedLists
extension is turned on, these definitions are desugared as follows
f [] = ... -- f (toList -> []) = ... g [x,y,z] = ... -- g (toList -> [x,y,z]) = ...
(Here we are using view-pattern syntax for the translation, see View patterns.)
6.2.9.1. TheIsList
class¶
In the above desugarings, the functions toList
, fromList
and fromListN
are all methods of the IsList
class, which is itself exported from the GHC.Exts
module. The type class is defined as follows:
class IsList l where type Item l fromList :: [Item l] -> l toList :: l -> [Item l] fromListN :: Int -> [Item l] -> l fromListN _ = fromList
The IsList
class and its methods are intended to be used in conjunction with the OverloadedLists
extension.
The type function Item
returns the type of items of the structure l
.
The function fromList
constructs the structure l
from the given list of Item l
.
The function fromListN
takes the input listâs length as a hint. Its behaviour should be equivalent to fromList
. The hint can be used for more efficient construction of the structure l
compared to fromList
. If the given hint is not equal to the input listâs length the behaviour of fromListN
is not specified.
The function toList
should be the inverse of fromList
.
It is perfectly fine to declare new instances of IsList
, so that list notation becomes useful for completely new data types. Here are several example instances:
instance IsList [a] where type Item [a] = a fromList = id toList = id instance (Ord a) => IsList (Set a) where type Item (Set a) = a fromList = Set.fromList toList = Set.toList instance (Ord k) => IsList (Map k v) where type Item (Map k v) = (k,v) fromList = Map.fromList toList = Map.toList instance IsList (IntMap v) where type Item (IntMap v) = (Int,v) fromList = IntMap.fromList toList = IntMap.toList instance IsList Text where type Item Text = Char fromList = Text.pack toList = Text.unpack instance IsList (Vector a) where type Item (Vector a) = a fromList = Vector.fromList fromListN = Vector.fromListN toList = Vector.toList
Users should not, however, provide any instance that overlaps with the first instance above. Namely, fromList
and toList
, when used on lists, should always be the identity function. For example, the following instance is disallowed:
instance {-# OVERLAPPING #-} IsList [Int] where type Item [Int] = Int fromList = reverse toList = reverse6.2.9.2. Rebindable syntax¶
When desugaring list notation with OverloadedLists
GHC uses the fromList
(etc) methods from module GHC.Exts
. You do not need to import GHC.Exts
for this to happen.
However if you use RebindableSyntax
, then GHC instead uses whatever is in scope with the names of toList
, fromList
and fromListN
. That is, these functions are rebindable; c.f. Rebindable syntax and the implicit Prelude import.
Currently, the IsList
class is not accompanied with defaulting rules. Although feasible, not much thought has gone into how to specify the meaning of the default declarations like:
The current implementation of the OverloadedLists
extension can be improved by handling the lists that are only populated with literals in a special way. More specifically, the compiler could allocate such lists statically using a compact representation and allow IsList
instances to take advantage of the compact representation. Equipped with this capability the OverloadedLists
extension will be in a good position to subsume the OverloadedStrings
extension (currently, as a special case, string literals benefit from statically allocated compact representation).
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