Documentation

The Functor class is used for types that can be mapped over. Instances of Functor should satisfy the following laws:

fmap id  ==  id
fmap (f . g)  ==  fmap f . fmap g

The instances of Functor for lists, Maybe and IO satisfy these laws.

Data structures that can be folded.

For example, given a data type

data Tree a = Empty | Leaf a | Node (Tree a) a (Tree a)

a suitable instance would be

instance Foldable Tree where
   foldMap f Empty = mempty
   foldMap f (Leaf x) = f x
   foldMap f (Node l k r) = foldMap f l `mappend` f k `mappend` foldMap f r

This is suitable even for abstract types, as the monoid is assumed to satisfy the monoid laws. Alternatively, one could define foldr:

instance Foldable Tree where
   foldr f z Empty = z
   foldr f z (Leaf x) = f x z
   foldr f z (Node l k r) = foldr f (f k (foldr f z r)) l

Foldable instances are expected to satisfy the following laws:

foldr f z t = appEndo (foldMap (Endo . f) t ) z

foldl f z t = appEndo (getDual (foldMap (Dual . Endo . flip f) t)) z

fold = foldMap id

sum, product, maximum, and minimum should all be essentially equivalent to foldMap forms, such as

sum = getSum . foldMap Sum

but may be less defined.

If the type is also a Functor instance, it should satisfy

foldMap f = fold . fmap f

which implies that

foldMap f . fmap g = foldMap (f . g)

Functors representing data structures that can be traversed from left to right.

A definition of traverse must satisfy the following laws:

naturality

t . traverse f = traverse (t . f) for every applicative transformation t

identity

traverse Identity = Identity

composition

traverse (Compose . fmap g . f) = Compose . fmap (traverse g) . traverse f

A definition of sequenceA must satisfy the following laws:

naturality

t . sequenceA = sequenceA . fmap t for every applicative transformation t

identity

sequenceA . fmap Identity = Identity

composition

sequenceA . fmap Compose = Compose . fmap sequenceA . sequenceA

where an applicative transformation is a function

t :: (Applicative f, Applicative g) => f a -> g a

preserving the Applicative operations, i.e.

• t (pure x) = pure x

• t (x <*> y) = t x <*> t y

and the identity functor Identity and composition of functors Compose are defined as

  newtype Identity a = Identity a

  instance Functor Identity where
    fmap f (Identity x) = Identity (f x)

  instance Applicative Indentity where
    pure x = Identity x
    Identity f <*> Identity x = Identity (f x)

  newtype Compose f g a = Compose (f (g a))

  instance (Functor f, Functor g) => Functor (Compose f g) where
    fmap f (Compose x) = Compose (fmap (fmap f) x)

  instance (Applicative f, Applicative g) => Applicative (Compose f g) where
    pure x = Compose (pure (pure x))
    Compose f <*> Compose x = Compose ((<*>) <$> f <*> x)

(The naturality law is implied by parametricity.)

Instances are similar to Functor, e.g. given a data type

data Tree a = Empty | Leaf a | Node (Tree a) a (Tree a)

a suitable instance would be

instance Traversable Tree where
   traverse f Empty = pure Empty
   traverse f (Leaf x) = Leaf <$> f x
   traverse f (Node l k r) = Node <$> traverse f l <*> f k <*> traverse f r

This is suitable even for abstract types, as the laws for <*> imply a form of associativity.

The superclass instances should satisfy the following:

• In the Functor instance, fmap should be equivalent to traversal with the identity applicative functor (fmapDefault).
• In the Foldable instance, foldMap should be equivalent to traversal with a constant applicative functor (foldMapDefault).