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

Minimal complete definition: traverse or sequenceA.

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).

for is traverse with its arguments flipped.

forM is mapM with its arguments flipped.

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.

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.

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.)

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