[[!toc]] Manipulating trees with monads ------------------------------ This thread develops an idea based on a detailed suggestion of Ken Shan's. We'll build a series of functions that operate on trees, doing various things, including replacing leaves, counting nodes, and converting a tree to a list of leaves. The end result will be an application for continuations. From an engineering standpoint, we'll build a tree transformer that deals in monads. We can modify the behavior of the system by swapping one monad for another. (We've already seen how adding a monad can add a layer of funtionality without disturbing the underlying system, for instance, in the way that the reader monad allowed us to add a layer of intensionality to an extensional grammar, but we have not yet seen the utility of replacing one monad with other.) First, we'll be needing a lot of trees during the remainder of the course. Here's a type constructor for binary trees: type 'a tree = Leaf of 'a | Node of ('a tree * 'a tree) These are trees in which the internal nodes do not have labels. [How would you adjust the type constructor to allow for labels on the internal nodes?] We'll be using trees where the nodes are integers, e.g.,
let t1 = Node ((Node ((Leaf 2), (Leaf 3))),
               (Node ((Leaf 5),(Node ((Leaf 7),
                                      (Leaf 11))))))

    .
 ___|___
 |     |
 .     .
_|__  _|__
|  |  |  |
2  3  5  .
        _|__
        |  |
        7  11
Our first task will be to replace each leaf with its double:
let rec treemap (newleaf:'a -> 'b) (t:'a tree):('b tree) =
  match t with Leaf x -> Leaf (newleaf x)
             | Node (l, r) -> Node ((treemap newleaf l),
                                    (treemap newleaf r));;
`treemap` takes a function that transforms old leaves into new leaves, and maps that function over all the leaves in the tree, leaving the structure of the tree unchanged. For instance:
let double i = i + i;;
treemap double t1;;
- : int tree =
Node (Node (Leaf 4, Leaf 6), Node (Leaf 10, Node (Leaf 14, Leaf 22)))

    .
 ___|____
 |      |
 .      .
_|__  __|__
|  |  |   |
4  6  10  .
        __|___
        |    |
        14   22
We could have built the doubling operation right into the `treemap` code. However, because what to do to each leaf is a parameter, we can decide to do something else to the leaves without needing to rewrite `treemap`. For instance, we can easily square each leaf instead by supplying the appropriate `int -> int` operation in place of `double`:
let square x = x * x;;
treemap square t1;;
- : int tree =ppp
Node (Node (Leaf 4, Leaf 9), Node (Leaf 25, Node (Leaf 49, Leaf 121)))
Note that what `treemap` does is take some global, contextual information---what to do to each leaf---and supplies that information to each subpart of the computation. In other words, `treemap` has the behavior of a reader monad. Let's make that explicit. In general, we're on a journey of making our treemap function more and more flexible. So the next step---combining the tree transducer with a reader monad---is to have the treemap function return a (monadized) tree that is ready to accept any `int->int` function and produce the updated tree. \tree (. (. (f2) (f3))(. (f5) (.(f7)(f11))))
\f    .
  ____|____
  |       |
  .       .
__|__   __|__
|   |   |   |
f2  f3  f5  .
          __|___
          |    |
          f7  f11
That is, we want to transform the ordinary tree `t1` (of type `int tree`) into a reader object of type `(int->int)-> int tree`: something that, when you apply it to an `int->int` function returns an `int tree` in which each leaf `x` has been replaced with `(f x)`. With previous readers, we always knew which kind of environment to expect: either an assignment function (the original calculator simulation), a world (the intensionality monad), an integer (the Jacobson-inspired link monad), etc. In this situation, it will be enough for now to expect that our reader will expect a function of type `int->int`.
type 'a reader = (int->int) -> 'a;;  (* mnemonic: e for environment *)
let reader_unit (x:'a): 'a reader = fun _ -> x;;
let reader_bind (u: 'a reader) (f:'a -> 'c reader):'c reader = fun e -> f (u e) e;;
It's easy to figure out how to turn an `int` into an `int reader`:
let int2int_reader (x:'a): 'b reader = fun (op:'a -> 'b) -> op x;;
int2int_reader 2 (fun i -> i + i);;
- : int = 4
But what do we do when the integers are scattered over the leaves of a tree? A binary tree is not the kind of thing that we can apply a function of type `int->int` to.
let rec treemonadizer (f:'a -> 'b reader) (t:'a tree):('b tree) reader =
  match t with Leaf x -> reader_bind (f x) (fun x' -> reader_unit (Leaf x'))
             | Node (l, r) -> reader_bind (treemonadizer f l) (fun x ->
                                reader_bind (treemonadizer f r) (fun y ->
                                  reader_unit (Node (x, y))));;
This function says: give me a function `f` that knows how to turn something of type `'a` into an `'b reader`, and I'll show you how to turn an `'a tree` into an `'a tree reader`. In more fanciful terms, the `treemonadizer` function builds plumbing that connects all of the leaves of a tree into one connected monadic network; it threads the monad through the leaves.
# treemonadizer int2int_reader t1 (fun i -> i + i);;
- : int tree =
Node (Node (Leaf 4, Leaf 6), Node (Leaf 10, Node (Leaf 14, Leaf 22)))
Here, our environment is the doubling function (`fun i -> i + i`). If we apply the very same `int tree reader` (namely, `treemonadizer int2int_reader t1`) to a different `int->int` function---say, the squaring function, `fun i -> i * i`---we get an entirely different result:
# treemonadizer int2int_reader t1 (fun i -> i * i);;
- : int tree =
Node (Node (Leaf 4, Leaf 9), Node (Leaf 25, Node (Leaf 49, Leaf 121)))
Now that we have a tree transducer that accepts a monad as a parameter, we can see what it would take to swap in a different monad. For instance, we can use a state monad to count the number of nodes in the tree.
type 'a state = int -> 'a * int;;
let state_unit x i = (x, i+.5);;
let state_bind u f i = let (a, i') = u i in f a (i'+.5);;
Gratifyingly, we can use the `treemonadizer` function without any modification whatsoever, except for replacing the (parametric) type `reader` with `state`:
let rec treemonadizer (f:'a -> 'b state) (t:'a tree):('b tree) state =
  match t with Leaf x -> state_bind (f x) (fun x' -> state_unit (Leaf x'))
             | Node (l, r) -> state_bind (treemonadizer f l) (fun x ->
                                state_bind (treemonadizer f r) (fun y ->
                                  state_unit (Node (x, y))));;
Then we can count the number of nodes in the tree:
# treemonadizer state_unit t1 0;;
- : int tree * int =
(Node (Node (Leaf 2, Leaf 3), Node (Leaf 5, Node (Leaf 7, Leaf 11))), 13)

    .
 ___|___
 |     |
 .     .
_|__  _|__
|  |  |  |
2  3  5  .
        _|__
        |  |
        7  11
Notice that we've counted each internal node twice---it's a good exercise to adjust the code to count each node once. One more revealing example before getting down to business: replacing `state` everywhere in `treemonadizer` with `list` gives us
# treemonadizer (fun x -> [ [x; square x] ]) t1;;
- : int list tree list =
[Node
  (Node (Leaf [2; 4], Leaf [3; 9]),
   Node (Leaf [5; 25], Node (Leaf [7; 49], Leaf [11; 121])))]
Unlike the previous cases, instead of turning a tree into a function from some input to a result, this transformer replaces each `int` with a list of `int`'s. Now for the main point. What if we wanted to convert a tree to a list of leaves?
type ('a, 'r) continuation = ('a -> 'r) -> 'r;;
let continuation_unit x c = c x;;
let continuation_bind u f c = u (fun a -> f a c);;

let rec treemonadizer (f:'a -> ('b, 'r) continuation) (t:'a tree):(('b tree), 'r) continuation =
  match t with Leaf x -> continuation_bind (f x) (fun x' -> continuation_unit (Leaf x'))
             | Node (l, r) -> continuation_bind (treemonadizer f l) (fun x ->
                                continuation_bind (treemonadizer f r) (fun y ->
                                  continuation_unit (Node (x, y))));;
We use the continuation monad described above, and insert the `continuation` type in the appropriate place in the `treemonadizer` code. We then compute:
# treemonadizer (fun a c -> a :: (c a)) t1 (fun t -> []);;
- : int list = [2; 3; 5; 7; 11]
We have found a way of collapsing a tree into a list of its leaves. The continuation monad is amazingly flexible; we can use it to simulate some of the computations performed above. To see how, first note that an interestingly uninteresting thing happens if we use the continuation unit as our first argument to `treemonadizer`, and then apply the result to the identity function:
# treemonadizer continuation_unit t1 (fun x -> x);;
- : int tree =
Node (Node (Leaf 2, Leaf 3), Node (Leaf 5, Node (Leaf 7, Leaf 11)))
That is, nothing happens. But we can begin to substitute more interesting functions for the first argument of `treemonadizer`:
(* Simulating the tree reader: distributing a operation over the leaves *)
# treemonadizer (fun a c -> c (square a)) t1 (fun x -> x);;
- : int tree =
Node (Node (Leaf 4, Leaf 9), Node (Leaf 25, Node (Leaf 49, Leaf 121)))

(* Simulating the int list tree list *)
# treemonadizer (fun a c -> c [a; square a]) t1 (fun x -> x);;
- : int list tree =
Node
 (Node (Leaf [2; 4], Leaf [3; 9]),
  Node (Leaf [5; 25], Node (Leaf [7; 49], Leaf [11; 121])))

(* Counting leaves *)
# treemonadizer (fun a c -> 1 + c a) t1 (fun x -> 0);;
- : int = 5
We could simulate the tree state example too, but it would require generalizing the type of the continuation monad to type ('a -> 'b -> 'c) continuation = ('a -> 'b) -> 'c;; The binary tree monad --------------------- Of course, by now you may have realized that we have discovered a new monad, the binary tree monad:
type 'a tree = Leaf of 'a | Node of ('a tree) * ('a tree);;
let tree_unit (x:'a) = Leaf x;;
let rec tree_bind (u:'a tree) (f:'a -> 'b tree):'b tree = 
  match u with Leaf x -> f x 
             | Node (l, r) -> Node ((tree_bind l f), (tree_bind r f));;
For once, let's check the Monad laws. The left identity law is easy: Left identity: bind (unit a) f = bind (Leaf a) f = fa To check the other two laws, we need to make the following observation: it is easy to prove based on `tree_bind` by a simple induction on the structure of the first argument that the tree resulting from `bind u f` is a tree with the same strucure as `u`, except that each leaf `a` has been replaced with `fa`: \tree (. (fa1) (. (. (. (fa2)(fa3)) (fa4)) (fa5)))
                .                         .       
              __|__                     __|__   
              |   |                     |   |   
              a1  .                    fa1  .   
                 _|__                     __|__ 
                 |  |                     |   | 
                 .  a5                    .  fa5
   bind         _|__       f   =        __|__   
                |  |                    |   |   
                .  a4                   .  fa4  
              __|__                   __|___   
              |   |                   |    |   
              a2  a3                 fa2  fa3         
Given this equivalence, the right identity law Right identity: bind u unit = u falls out once we realize that bind (Leaf a) unit = unit a = Leaf a As for the associative law, Associativity: bind (bind u f) g = bind u (\a. bind (fa) g) we'll give an example that will show how an inductive proof would proceed. Let `f a = Node (Leaf a, Leaf a)`. Then \tree (. (. (. (. (a1)(a2))))) \tree (. (. (. (. (a1) (a1)) (. (a1) (a1))) ))
                                           .
                                       ____|____
          .               .            |       |
bind    __|__   f  =    __|_    =      .       .
        |   |           |   |        __|__   __|__
        a1  a2         fa1 fa2       |   |   |   |
                                     a1  a1  a1  a1  
Now when we bind this tree to `g`, we get
           .
       ____|____
       |       |
       .       .
     __|__   __|__
     |   |   |   |
    ga1 ga1 ga1 ga1  
At this point, it should be easy to convince yourself that using the recipe on the right hand side of the associative law will built the exact same final tree. So binary trees are a monad. Haskell combines this monad with the Option monad to provide a monad called a [SearchTree](http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/tree-monad/0.2.1/doc/html/src/Control-Monad-SearchTree.html#SearchTree) that is intended to represent non-deterministic computations as a tree.