One thing I haven't often seen people talk about doing in Haskell is working with data in column-major order, or as a struct of arrays. If we take a look though, there's some interesting possibilities and theory underlying this relatively simple concept.

The conkin package is the result of my explorations along this line of thinking.

An example of use

Suppose we have a list of items we wish to manipulate in column-major order:

items :: [Item]
items = [ chocolateBar, toiletPaper, ibuprofen ]

chocolateBar, toiletPaper, ibuprofen :: Item

chocolateBar = Item 0xDE1EC7AB1E "chocolate bar" 1.50
toiletPaper = Item 0xDEFEC8 "toilet paper" 9.99
ibuprofen = Item 0x43A1A11 "ibuprofen" 5.25

Using the Functor instance for lists, we can easily extract each field into its own list:

extractFields0 :: [Item] -> ([UPC], [String], [Double])
extractFields0 items = ( upc <$> items, name <$> items, price <$> items )

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> extractFields0 items
( [ 0xDE1EC7AB1E , 0xDEFEC8 , 0x43A1A11 ]
, [ "chocolate bar" , "toilet paper" , "ibuprofen" ]
, [ 1.5 , 9.99 , 5.25 ]
)
-}

We've lost bit of semantic meaning, however, as we've switched from our own custom data type to a generic tuple. We can regain this meaning if we define a type specifically for a collection of items, parameterized by the collection type:

extractFields1 :: [Item] -> ItemF []
extractFields1 items = ItemF (upc <$> items) (name <$> items) (price <$> items)

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> extractFields1 items
ItemF
  { _upc = [ 0xDE1EC7AB1E , 0xDEFEC8 , 0x43A1A11 ]
  , _name = [ "chocolate bar" , "toilet paper" , "ibuprofen" ]
  , _price = [ 1.5 , 9.99 , 5.25 ]
  }
-}
data ItemF f = ItemF 
  { _upc :: f UPC
  , _name :: f String
  , _price :: f Dollars
  }
deriving instance (Show (f String), Show (f Dollars), Show (f UPC)) => Show (ItemF f)
deriving instance (Eq (f String), Eq (f Dollars), Eq (f UPC)) => Eq (ItemF f)

With a little help from PatternSynonyms we can derive the Item type from ItemF, making sure the two definitions don't slip out of step:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> items
[ ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
    , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
    , _price = Identity 1.5
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDEFEC8
    , _name = Identity "toilet paper"
    , _price = Identity 9.99
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
    , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
    , _price = Identity 5.25
    }
]
-}

-- import Data.Functor.Identity (Identity(..))
-- ...
type Item = ItemF Identity

-- {-# LANGUAGE PatternSynonyms #-}
-- ...
pattern Item :: UPC -> String -> Dollars -> Item
pattern Item upc name price = ItemF (Identity upc) (Identity name) (Identity price) 

upc :: Item -> UPC
upc = runIdentity . _upc

name :: Item -> String
name = runIdentity . _name

price :: Item -> Dollars
price = runIdentity . _price

So what else can we do with ItemF? We can't make it a Functor, it's got the wrong kind.

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> instance Functor ItemF where fmap = undefined
<BLANKLINE>
... 
    • Expected kind ‘* -> *’, but ‘ItemF’ has kind ‘(* -> *) -> *’
    • In the first argument of ‘Functor’, namely ‘ItemF’
      In the instance declaration for ‘Functor ItemF’
-}

But it's still got this parameter that it's covariant and homogenous in - all the fields must use the same container of kind * -> *, and changing what container we're using should be easy.

So let's define a different Functor class for types of kind (k -> *) -> *.

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :i Conkin.Functor
class Conkin.Functor (f :: (k -> *) -> *) where
  Conkin.fmap :: forall (a :: k -> *) (b :: k -> *).
                 (forall (x :: k). a x -> b x) -> f a -> f b
...
-}

-- import qualified Conkin
-- ...
instance Conkin.Functor ItemF where
  fmap f (ItemF {..}) = ItemF
    { _upc = f _upc
    , _name = f _name
    , _price = f _price
    }

Now we can use Conkin.fmap to convert an individual Item into a ItemF []

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :t Conkin.fmap (\(Identity x) -> [x])
Conkin.fmap (\(Identity x) -> [x])
  :: Conkin.Functor f => f Identity -> f []
>>> Conkin.fmap (\(Identity x) -> [x]) chocolateBar
ItemF
  { _upc = [ 0xDE1EC7AB1E ]
  , _name = [ "chocolate bar" ]
  , _price = [ 1.5 ]
  }
-}

We could stitch together multiple of these ItemF [] into one if ItemF [] had a Monoid instance:

extractFields2 :: [Item] -> ItemF []
extractFields2 = foldMap $ Conkin.fmap $ pure . runIdentity

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> extractFields2 items
ItemF
  { _upc = [ 0xDE1EC7AB1E , 0xDEFEC8 , 0x43A1A11 ]
  , _name = [ "chocolate bar" , "toilet paper" , "ibuprofen" ]
  , _price = [ 1.5 , 9.99 , 5.25 ]
  }
-}

-- import Control.Applicative (Alternative(..))
-- ...
instance Alternative a => Monoid (ItemF a) where
  mempty = ItemF empty empty empty
  left `mappend` right = ItemF
    { _upc = _upc left <|> _upc right
    , _name = _name left <|> _name right
    , _price = _price left <|> _price right
    }

Of course we could do this before with extractFields1, but there's nothing specific to ItemF in the definition of extractFields2. The same definition would work for any Conkin.Functor that formed a Monoid:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :t foldMap $ Conkin.fmap $ pure . runIdentity
foldMap $ Conkin.fmap $ pure . runIdentity
  :: (Applicative b, Conkin.Functor f, Monoid (f b), Foldable t) =>
     t (f Identity) -> f b
-}

Another useful monoid is ItemF Maybe. This could let us combine multiple partially specified items into one:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> mempty { _price = Just 2.99 }
ItemF { _upc = Nothing , _name = Nothing , _price = Just 2.99 }
>>> mempty { _price = Just 2.99 } <> mempty { _upc = Just 0x0 }
ItemF { _upc = Just 0x0 , _name = Nothing , _price = Just 2.99 }
-}

(Side note - I love being able to partially specify ItemF Maybe using mempty with record notation. All the succinctness of ItemF { _price = Just 2.99 }, but none of the missing fields.)

We can use <> (aka mappend) to transform a partially specified item into a fully specified one:

withDefaults0 :: ItemF Maybe -> Item
withDefaults0 partial = Conkin.fmap (Identity . fromJust) $ partial <> ItemF
  { _upc = Just 0x0
  , _name = Just "unknown"
  , _price = Just 0
  }

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> withDefaults0 mempty
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "unknown"
  , _price = Identity 0.0
  }
>>> withDefaults0 mempty { _price = Just 2.99, _name = Just "flyswatter" }
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "flyswatter"
  , _price = Identity 2.99
  }
-}

However, I'm not a big fan of this solution. We've abandoned some safety by using the partial fromJust. If a future developer alters a default to be Nothing, the compiler won't complain, we'll just get a runtime error.

What I'd rather be using is the safer fromMaybe, but since that's a two-argument function, I can't just use it via fmap. I need ItemF to be an Applicative.

We'll need a slightly different Applicative class than Prelude's, as ItemF again has the wrong kind:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :i Conkin.Applicative
class Conkin.Functor f =>
      Conkin.Applicative (f :: (k -> *) -> *) where
  Conkin.pure :: forall (a :: k -> *). (forall (x :: k). a x) -> f a
  (Conkin.<*>) :: forall (a :: k -> *) (b :: k -> *).
                  f (a ~> b) -> f a -> f b
...
>>> :i (~>)
type role (~>) representational representational nominal
newtype (~>) (a :: k -> *) (b :: k -> *) (x :: k)
  = Conkin.Arrow {(~$~) :: a x -> b x}
...
-}

instance Conkin.Applicative ItemF where
  pure a = ItemF a a a
  ItemF fi fs fd <*> ItemF ai as ad
    = ItemF (fi ~$~ ai) (fs ~$~ as) (fd ~$~ ad)

Now we can lift fromMaybe:

withDefaults1 :: ItemF Maybe -> Item
withDefaults1 = Conkin.liftA2 (\(Identity x) -> Identity . fromMaybe x) ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x0
    , _name = Identity "unknown"
    , _price = Identity 0
    }

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> withDefaults1 mempty
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "unknown"
  , _price = Identity 0.0
  }
>>> withDefaults1 mempty { _price = Just 2.99, _name = Just "flyswatter" }
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "flyswatter"
  , _price = Identity 2.99
  }
-}

Using data-default's Default class, we can generalize this idea to create a function that converts any partially-specified Conkin.Applicative to a fully specified one.

withDefaults2 :: (Conkin.Applicative f, Default (f Identity)) => f Maybe -> f Identity
withDefaults2 = Conkin.liftA2 (\(Identity x) -> Identity . fromMaybe x) def

instance Default Item where
  def = ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x0
    , _name = Identity "unknown"
    , _price = Identity 0
    }

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> withDefaults2 mempty :: ItemF Identity
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "unknown"
  , _price = Identity 0.0
  }
>>> withDefaults2 mempty { _price = Just 2.99, _name = Just "flyswatter" }
ItemF
  { _upc = Identity 0x0
  , _name = Identity "flyswatter"
  , _price = Identity 2.99
  }
-}

What also might be nice is a way to test whether a ItemF Maybe is actually fully specified:

isAllJust :: Conkin.Foldable f => f Maybe -> Bool
isAllJust = getAll . Conkin.foldMap (All . isJust)

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> isAllJust mempty { _upc = Just 0x1111111111 }
False
>>> isAllJust ItemF { _upc = Just 0xDEADBEEF, _name = Just "hamburger", _price = Just 1.99 }
True
-}

At this point, it should not be surprising that we need a slightly different Foldable in order to collapse ItemF values:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :i Conkin.Foldable
class Conkin.Foldable (t :: (k -> *) -> *) where
  Conkin.foldr :: forall (a :: k -> *) b.
                  (forall (x :: k). a x -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b
  Conkin.foldMap :: forall m (a :: k -> *).
                    Monoid m =>
                    (forall (x :: k). a x -> m) -> t a -> m
...
-}

instance Conkin.Foldable ItemF where
  foldMap f (ItemF {..}) = f _upc <> f _name <> f _price

We could use isAllJust to safely create an Item from a fully-specified ItemF Maybe:

toItem0 :: ItemF Maybe -> Maybe Item
toItem0 i | isAllJust i = Just $ Conkin.fmap (Identity . fromJust) i
          | otherwise   = Nothing

But the conkin package already provides a function that does just that:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Conkin.apportion mempty { _upc = Just 0x1111111111 }
Nothing
>>> Conkin.apportion ItemF { _upc = Just 0xDEADBEEF, _name = Just "hamburger", _price = Just 1.99 }
Just
  ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDEADBEEF
    , _name = Identity "hamburger"
    , _price = Identity 1.99
    }
>>> :t Conkin.apportion
Conkin.apportion
  :: (Conkin.Traversable g, Applicative f) => g f -> f (g Identity)
-}

Although conkin does require that ItemF implement its custom Traversable class, it provides helpers for tuple-like classes like ItemF.

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :m +Data.Functor.Compose
>>> :i Conkin.Traversable
class (Conkin.Foldable t, Conkin.Functor t) =>
      Conkin.Traversable (t :: (i -> *) -> *) where
  Conkin.traverse :: forall j (f :: (j -> *) -> *) (a :: i
                                                         -> *) (b :: i -> j -> *).
                     Conkin.Applicative f =>
                     (forall (x :: i). a x -> f (b x))
                     -> t a -> f (Compose t (Conkin.Flip b))
  Conkin.sequenceA :: forall j (f :: (j -> *) -> *) (a :: i
                                                          -> j -> *).
                      Conkin.Applicative f =>
                      t (Compose f a) -> f (Compose t (Conkin.Flip a))
...
-}
instance Conkin.Traversable ItemF where
  sequenceA (ItemF {..}) = Conkin.liftT3 ItemF _upc _name _price

We could also attempt to use apportion to invert extractFields2, but it mixes up the columns:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> items
[ ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
    , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
    , _price = Identity 1.5
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDEFEC8
    , _name = Identity "toilet paper"
    , _price = Identity 9.99
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
    , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
    , _price = Identity 5.25
    }
]
>>> Conkin.apportion (extractFields2 items)
[ ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
    , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
    , _price = Identity 1.5
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
    , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
    , _price = Identity 9.99
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
    , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
    , _price = Identity 5.25
    }
...
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
    , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
    , _price = Identity 1.5
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
    , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
    , _price = Identity 9.99
    }
, ItemF
    { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
    , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
    , _price = Identity 5.25
    }
]
-}

This is because of []'s Applicative instance. If we use the ZipList newtype wrapper, we can get the behaviour we desire:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> import Control.Applicative (ZipList(..))
>>> Conkin.align (ZipList items)
ItemF
  { _upc =
      ZipList { getZipList = [ 0xDE1EC7AB1E , 0xDEFEC8 , 0x43A1A11 ] }
  , _name =
      ZipList
        { getZipList = [ "chocolate bar" , "toilet paper" , "ibuprofen" ] }
  , _price = ZipList { getZipList = [ 1.5 , 9.99 , 5.25 ] }
  }
>>> Conkin.apportion (Conkin.align (ZipList items))
ZipList
  { getZipList =
      [ ItemF
          { _upc = Identity 0xDE1EC7AB1E
          , _name = Identity "chocolate bar"
          , _price = Identity 1.5
          }
      , ItemF
          { _upc = Identity 0xDEFEC8
          , _name = Identity "toilet paper"
          , _price = Identity 9.99
          }
      , ItemF
          { _upc = Identity 0x43A1A11
          , _name = Identity "ibuprofen"
          , _price = Identity 5.25
          }
      ]
  }
-}

Here we use the handy align function as yet another way to implement extractFields:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :t Conkin.align
Conkin.align
  :: (Conkin.Applicative g, Traversable f) => f (g Identity) -> g f
-}

A little bit of theory

Typically in Haskell, we talk about the category Hask, where the objects are types of kind * and the arrows are normal Haskell functions. In general, a functor is a mapping between categories, mapping each object or arrow in one category to an object or arrow (respectively) in another.

The Prelude's Functor typeclass actually describes endofunctors from Hask to Hask; given a Functor f, we can map any type a in Hask to the type f a in Hask (so f must have kind * -> *), and we can map any arrow (function) a -> b in Hask to an arrow f a -> f b in Hask (using fmap).

The conkin package focuses on the functors from Hask^k to Hask. In Hask^k, the objects are types of kind k -> *, and the arrows are transformations a ~> b where (a ~> b) x ~ (a x -> b x). A functor from Hask^k to Hask must then be able to map any type a :: k -> * in Hask^k to a type f a :: * in Hask (so f must have kind (k -> *) -> *), and must be able to map any arrow a ~> b in Hask^k to an arrow f a -> f b in Hask.

(I'm not very well read in category theory, so it's thoroughly possible Hask^k has a more common name in literature, I just chose that one out of similarity with type exponentials.)

You can lift any functor from Hask to Hask to a functor from Hask^k to Hask using Dispose:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :i Conkin.Dispose
type role Conkin.Dispose representational nominal nominal
newtype Conkin.Dispose (f :: * -> *) (x :: k) (a :: k -> *)
  = Conkin.Dispose {Conkin.getDispose :: f (a x)}
...
-}

And any functor from Hask^k to Hask can be lifted to a functor from Hask to Hask using Coyoneda:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> :i Conkin.Coyoneda
type role Conkin.Coyoneda representational representational
data Conkin.Coyoneda (t :: (k -> *) -> *) u where
  Conkin.Coyoneda :: forall k (t :: (k -> *) -> *) u (a :: k -> *).
                     (forall (x :: k). a x -> u) -> (t a) -> Conkin.Coyoneda t u
...
-}

Not only do both of these encodings preserve functorality, but they also preserve foldability, applicativity, and traversability (e.g. Traversable t => Conkin.Traversable (Conkin.Dispose t x)).

Another interesting facet of functors from Hask^k to Hask is the similarity between their kind, (k -> *) -> *, and the type of continuations, type Cont r a = (a -> r) -> r. This continuation kind is where the conkin package gets its name from.

If we start to look at these functors as types of kind Cont Type i, then we can can start thinking of how to compose them in an algebra, using

• Conkin.Product f g :: Cont Type (i,j) as the product type of functors f :: Cont Type i and g :: Cont Type j
• Conkin.Coproduct f g :: Cont Type (Either i j) as the coproduct type of functors f :: Cont Type i and g :: Cont Type j

Interestingly, Conkin.Product f g a is isomorphic to f (Compose g a), making Conkin.sequenceA the equivalent of Data.Tuple.swap.

Notes and concerns

Existing Work

The conkin package isn't unprecedented. In addition to Edward Kmett's even more general categories package, there's also Gracjan Polak's fieldwise package, which supports a similar set of operations for types of kind (k -> *) -> *.

Boilerplate instances

Instances of Conkin's Functor, Applicative, Foldable, and Traversable classes are mainly mechanical, and seem like excellent candidates for using -XDeriveGeneric and -XDefaultSignatures to reduce the amount of boilerplate needed for use. This is not currently true, as you cannot encode a type like ItemF using the fundamental representational types GHC knows about:

{-$-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> deriving instance Generic1 (ItemF)
...
    • Can't make a derived instance of ‘Generic1 ItemF’:
        Constructor ‘ItemF’ applies a type to an argument involving the last parameter
                            but the applied type is not of kind * -> *, and
        Constructor ‘ItemF’ applies a type to an argument involving the last parameter
                            but the applied type is not of kind * -> *, and
        Constructor ‘ItemF’ applies a type to an argument involving the last parameter
                            but the applied type is not of kind * -> *
    • In the stand-alone deriving instance for ‘Generic1 (ItemF)’
-}

It's very possible to hand-write instances of Generic1 for functors from Hask^k to Hask using an fundamental representational type, Par2:

newtype Par2 (x :: k) (a :: k -> *) = Par2 { unPar2 :: a x }

instance Generic1 ItemF where
  type Rep1 ItemF =
    D1 ('MetaData "ItemF" "Main" "conkin" 'True)
      (C1 ('MetaCons "ItemF" 'PrefixI 'True)
        (S1 ('MetaSel ('Just "_upc") 'NoSourceUnpackedness 'NoSourceStrictness 'DecidedLazy)
          (Par2 UPC)
         :*:
         S1 ('MetaSel ('Just "_name") 'NoSourceUnpackedness 'NoSourceStrictness 'DecidedLazy)
          (Par2 String)
         :*:
         S1 ('MetaSel ('Just "_cost") 'NoSourceUnpackedness 'NoSourceStrictness 'DecidedLazy)
          (Par2 Dollars)))
  from1 (ItemF {..}) = M1 (M1 (M1 (Par2 _upc) :*: M1 (Par2 _name) :*: M1 (Par2 _price)))
  to1 (M1 (M1 (M1 (Par2 _upc) :*: M1 (Par2 _name) :*: M1 (Par2 _price)))) = ItemF {..}

However the verbosity of the above makes it less useful as a way to avoid boilerplate.

This is not necessarily the end of all hope; I could make a pull request to GHC including Par2 and updates to the DeriveGeneric mechanism, or write some TemplateHaskell macros to generate the instances. Until I do so, I've gone the fairly low-effort route of providing a few helper functions to make Conkin.Traversable instances easier to write.

Use of unsafeCoerce

In my personal Haskell experience, my only uses of unsafeCoerce until this package had been for newtype wrappers and such (i.e. excellent candidates to use coerce instead). This library marks the first time I found myself using unsafeCoerce because I just couldn't think of another way to convince the compiler of something, in Dispose's implementation of Conkin.Traversable:

instance Prelude.Traversable t => Traversable (Dispose t x) where
  sequenceA = teardown . Prelude.traverse setup . getDispose where
    setup :: Compose f a x -> Coyoneda f (Exists (a x))
    setup = Coyoneda Exists . getCompose

    teardown :: (Functor f, Prelude.Functor t) => Coyoneda f (t (Exists (a x))) -> f (Compose (Dispose t x) (Flip a))
    teardown (Coyoneda k fax) = Compose . Dispose . Prelude.fmap Flip . unwrap k <$> fax

    -- by parametricity, `t`'s implementation of `Prelude.sequenceA :: t (g e) ->
    -- g (t e)` can't inspect the value of `e`, so all `Exists a` values
    -- must be wrapped `a x` values, so this should be an okay use
    -- of `unsafeGetExists`.
    unwrap :: Prelude.Functor t => (b x -> t (Exists a)) -> b x -> t (a x)
    unwrap k bx = Prelude.fmap (unsafeGetExists bx) $ k bx

    unsafeGetExists :: proxy x -> Exists a -> a x
    unsafeGetExists _ (Exists az) = unsafeCoerce az

data Exists (a :: k -> *) where
  Exists :: a x -> Exists a

I've managed to convince myself that my use of unsafeCoerce is, well, safe, but only until someone finds a law-abiding Traversable that proves me wrong. I should probably come back to this, and either come up with a more formal proof of validity, rather than the loose argument I present in the code.

Literate Haskell

This README.md file is a literate haskell file, for use with markdown-unlit. To allow GHC to recognize it, it's softlinked as README.lhs, which you can compile with

$ ghc -pgmL markdown-unlit README.lhs

Many of the above examples are doctest-compatible, and can be run with

$ doctest -pgmL markdown-unlit README.lhs

Alternately, you can have cabal manage the dependencies and compile and test this with:

$ cabal install happy
$ cabal install --enable-tests
$ cabal test readme