6.2.10. Overloaded lists¶
-
OverloadedLists
¶ Since: 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.)
6.2.10.1. The IsList
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 structurel
. - The function
fromList
constructs the structurel
from the given list ofItem l
. - The function
fromListN
takes the input list’s length as a hint. Its behaviour should be equivalent tofromList
. The hint can be used for more efficient construction of the structurel
compared tofromList
. If the given hint is not equal to the input list’s length the behaviour offromListN
is not specified. - The function
toList
should be the inverse offromList
.
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
6.2.10.2. 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.
6.2.10.3. Defaulting¶
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:
default ([a])
6.2.10.4. Speculation about the future¶
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).