Data.Traversable

base-4.8.2.0: Basic libraries

Copyright | Conor McBride and Ross Paterson 2005
License | BSD-style (see the LICENSE file in the distribution)
Maintainer | libraries@haskell.org
Stability | experimental
Portability | portable
Safe Haskell | Trustworthy
Language | Haskell2010

Data.Traversable

Contents

- The `Traversable` class
- Utility functions
- General definitions for superclass methods

Description

Class of data structures that can be traversed from left to right, performing an action on each element.

See also

- "Applicative Programming with Effects", by Conor McBride and Ross Paterson, Journal of Functional Programming 18:1 (2008) 1-13, online at http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~ross/papers/Applicative.html.
- "The Essence of the Iterator Pattern", by Jeremy Gibbons and Bruno Oliveira, in Mathematically-Structured Functional Programming, 2006, online at http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/work/jeremy.gibbons/publications/#iterator.
- "An Investigation of the Laws of Traversals", by Mauro Jaskelioff and Ondrej Rypacek, in Mathematically-Structured Functional Programming, 2012, online at http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.2919.

Synopsis

- class (Functor t, Foldable t) => Traversable t where
  - traverse :: Applicative f => (a -> f b) -> t a -> f (t b)
  - sequenceA :: Applicative f => t (f a) -> f (t a)
  - mapM :: Monad m => (a -> m b) -> t a -> m (t b)
  - sequence :: Monad m => t (m a) -> m (t a)
- for :: (Traversable t, Applicative f) => t a -> (a -> f b) -> f (t b)
- forM :: (Traversable t, Monad m) => t a -> (a -> m b) -> m (t b)
- mapAccumL :: Traversable t => (a -> b -> (a, c)) -> a -> t b -> (a, t c)
- mapAccumR :: Traversable t => (a -> b -> (a, c)) -> a -> t b -> (a, t c)
- fmapDefault :: Traversable t => (a -> b) -> t a -> t b
- foldMapDefault :: (Traversable t, Monoid m) => (a -> m) -> t a -> m

# The `Traversable` class

class (Functor t, Foldable t) => Traversable t where

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`).

Minimal complete definition

traverse | sequenceA

Methods

traverse :: Applicative f => (a -> f b) -> t a -> f (t b)

Map each element of a structure to an action, evaluate these actions from left to right, and collect the results. For a version that ignores the results see `traverse_`.

sequenceA :: Applicative f => t (f a) -> f (t a)

Evaluate each action in the structure from left to right, and and collect the results. For a version that ignores the results see `sequenceA_`.

mapM :: Monad m => (a -> m b) -> t a -> m (t b)

Map each element of a structure to a monadic action, evaluate these actions from left to right, and collect the results. For a version that ignores the results see `mapM_`.

sequence :: Monad m => t (m a) -> m (t a)

Evaluate each monadic action in the structure from left to right, and collect the results. For a version that ignores the results see `sequence_`.

Instances

Traversable [] |
Traversable Maybe |
Traversable Identity |
Traversable (Either a) |
Traversable ((,) a) |
Traversable (Proxy *) |
Traversable (Const m) |

# Utility functions

for :: (Traversable t, Applicative f) => t a -> (a -> f b) -> f (t b)

`for` is `traverse` with its arguments flipped. For a version that ignores the results see `for_`.

forM :: (Traversable t, Monad m) => t a -> (a -> m b) -> m (t b)

`forM` is `mapM` with its arguments flipped. For a version that ignores the results see `forM_`.

mapAccumL :: Traversable t => (a -> b -> (a, c)) -> a -> t b -> (a, t c)

The `mapAccumL` function behaves like a combination of `fmap` and `foldl`; it applies a function to each element of a structure, passing an accumulating parameter from left to right, and returning a final value of this accumulator together with the new structure.

mapAccumR :: Traversable t => (a -> b -> (a, c)) -> a -> t b -> (a, t c)

The `mapAccumR` function behaves like a combination of `fmap` and `foldr`; it applies a function to each element of a structure, passing an accumulating parameter from right to left, and returning a final value of this accumulator together with the new structure.

# General definitions for superclass methods

fmapDefault :: Traversable t => (a -> b) -> t a -> t b

This function may be used as a value for `fmap` in a `Functor` instance, provided that `traverse` is defined. (Using `fmapDefault` with a `Traversable` instance defined only by `sequenceA` will result in infinite recursion.)

foldMapDefault :: (Traversable t, Monoid m) => (a -> m) -> t a -> m

This function may be used as a value for `foldMap` in a `Foldable` instance.