X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=towards_monads.mdwn;fp=towards_monads.mdwn;h=223c592bc128b77b34c94de0db6420690b478fd5;hb=93d67277339f0aed8184a14bbc35ec5060a0c031;hp=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hpb=7ead05816d92955744e53ea78d54efc3c08176dd;p=lambda.git diff --git a/towards_monads.mdwn b/towards_monads.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..223c592b --- /dev/null +++ b/towards_monads.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,142 @@ +Dividing by zero +---------------- + +Integer division operation presupposes that its second argument +(the divisor) is not zero, upon pain of presupposition failure. +Here's what my OCaml interpreter says: + + # 12/0;; + Exception: Division_by_zero. + +So we want to explicitly allow for the possibility that +division will return something other than a number. +We'll use OCaml's option type, which works like this: + + # type 'a option = None | Some of 'a;; + # None;; + - : 'a option = None + # Some 3;; + - : int option = Some 3 + +So if a division is normal, we return some number, but if the divisor is +zero, we return None. As a mnemonic aid, we'll append a `'` to the end of our new divide function. + +
+let div' (x:int) (y:int) = + match y with 0 -> None | + _ -> Some (x / y);; + +(* +val div' : int -> int -> int option = fun +# div' 12 3;; +- : int option = Some 4 +# div' 12 0;; +- : int option = None +# div' (div' 12 3) 2;; +Characters 4-14: + div' (div' 12 3) 2;; + ^^^^^^^^^^ +Error: This expression has type int option + but an expression was expected of type int +*) ++ +This starts off well: dividing 12 by 3, no problem; dividing 12 by 0, +just the behavior we were hoping for. But we want to be able to use +the output of the safe-division function as input for further division +operations. So we have to jack up the types of the inputs: + +
+let div' (x:int option) (y:int option) = + match y with None -> None | + Some 0 -> None | + Some n -> (match x with None -> None | + Some m -> Some (m / n));; + +(* +val div' : int option -> int option -> int option =+ +Beautiful, just what we need: now we can try to divide by anything we +want, without fear that we're going to trigger any system errors. + +I prefer to line up the `match` alternatives by using OCaml's +built-in tuple type: + ++# div' (Some 12) (Some 4);; +- : int option = Some 3 +# div' (Some 12) (Some 0);; +- : int option = None +# div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 4);; +- : int option = None +*) +
+let div' (x:int option) (y:int option) = + match (x, y) with (None, _) -> None | + (_, None) -> None | + (_, Some 0) -> None | + (Some m, Some n) -> Some (m / n);; ++ +So far so good. But what if we want to combine division with +other arithmetic operations? We need to make those other operations +aware of the possibility that one of their arguments will trigger a +presupposition failure: + +
+let add' (x:int option) (y:int option) = + match (x, y) with (None, _) -> None | + (_, None) -> None | + (Some m, Some n) -> Some (m + n);; + +(* +val add' : int option -> int option -> int option =+ +This works, but is somewhat disappointing: the `add'` operation +doesn't trigger any presupposition of its own, so it is a shame that +it needs to be adjusted because someone else might make trouble. + +But we can automate the adjustment. The standard way in OCaml, +Haskell, etc., is to define a `bind` operator (the name `bind` is not +well chosen to resonate with linguists, but what can you do). To continue our mnemonic association, we'll put a `'` after the name "bind" as well. + ++# add' (Some 12) (Some 4);; +- : int option = Some 16 +# add' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 4);; +- : int option = None +*) +
+let bind' (x: int option) (f: int -> (int option)) = + match x with None -> None | + Some n -> f n;; + +let add' (x: int option) (y: int option) = + bind' x (fun x -> bind' y (fun y -> Some (x + y)));; + +let div' (x: int option) (y: int option) = + bind' x (fun x -> bind' y (fun y -> if (0 = y) then None else Some (x / y)));; + +(* +# div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 2)) (Some 4);; +- : int option = Some 1 +# div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 4);; +- : int option = None +# add' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 4);; +- : int option = None +*) ++ +Compare the new definitions of `add'` and `div'` closely: the definition +for `add'` shows what it looks like to equip an ordinary operation to +survive in dangerous presupposition-filled world. Note that the new +definition of `add'` does not need to test whether its arguments are +None objects or real numbers---those details are hidden inside of the +`bind'` function. + +The definition of `div'` shows exactly what extra needs to be said in +order to trigger the no-division-by-zero presupposition. + +For linguists: this is a complete theory of a particularly simply form +of presupposition projection (every predicate is a hole). +