about it, but for our purposes, we can consider a monad to be a system
that provides at least the following three elements:
-* A way to build a complex type from some basic type. In the division
- example, the polymorphism of the `'a option` type provides a way of
- building an option out of any other type of object. People often
- use a container metaphor: if `x` has type `int option`, then `x` is
- a box that (may) contain an integer.
+* A complex type that's built around some more basic type. Usually
+ it will be polymorphic, and so can apply to different basic types.
+ In our division example, the polymorphism of the `'a option` type
+ provides a way of building an option out of any other type of object.
+ People often use a container metaphor: if `x` has type `int option`,
+ then `x` is a box that (may) contain an integer.
type 'a option = None | Some of 'a;;
* A way to turn an ordinary value into a monadic value. In OCaml, we
did this for any integer `n` by mapping it to
- the option `Some n`. To be official, we can define a function
- called unit:
+ the option `Some n`. In the general case, this operation is
+ known as `unit` or `return.` Both of those names are terrible. This
+ operation is only very loosely connected to the `unit` type we were
+ discussing earlier (whose value is written `()`). It's also only
+ very loosely connected to the "return" keyword in many other
+ programming languages like C. But these are the names that the literature
+ uses.
+
+ The unit/return operation is a way of lifting an ordinary object into
+ the monadic box you've defined, in the simplest way possible. You can think
+ of the singleton function as an example: it takes an ordinary object
+ and returns a set containing that object. In the example we've been
+ considering:
let unit x = Some x;;
-
val unit : 'a -> 'a option = <fun>
- So `unit` is a way to put something inside of a box.
+ So `unit` is a way to put something inside of a monadic box. It's crucial
+ to the usefulness of monads that there will be monadic boxes that
+ aren't the result of that operation. In the option/maybe monad, for
+ instance, there's also the empty box `None`. In another (whimsical)
+ example, you might have, in addition to boxes merely containing integers,
+ special boxes that contain integers and also sing a song when they're opened.
-* A bind operation (note the type):
+ The unit/return operation will always be the simplest, conceptually
+ most straightforward way to lift an ordinary value into a monadic value
+ of the monadic type in question.
- let bind m f = match m with None -> None | Some n -> f n;;
+* Thirdly, an operation that's often called `bind`. This is another
+ unfortunate name: this operation is only very loosely connected to
+ what linguists usually mean by "binding." In our option/maybe monad, the
+ bind operation is:
+ let bind m f = match m with None -> None | Some n -> f n;;
val bind : 'a option -> ('a -> 'b option) -> 'b option = <fun>
- `bind` takes two arguments (a monadic object and a function from
- ordinary objects to monadic objects), and returns a monadic
- object.
+ Note the type. `bind` takes two arguments: first, a monadic "box"
+ (in this case, an 'a option); and second, a function from
+ ordinary objects to monadic boxes. `bind` then returns a monadic
+ value: in this case, a 'b option (you can start with, e.g., int options
+ and end with bool options).
Intuitively, the interpretation of what `bind` does is like this:
- the first argument computes a monadic object m, which will
- evaluate to a box containing some ordinary value, call it `x`.
+ the first argument is a monadic value m, which
+ evaluates to a box that (maybe) contains some ordinary value, call it `x`.
Then the second argument uses `x` to compute a new monadic
value. Conceptually, then, we have
- let bind m f = (let x = unwrap m in f x);;
+ let bind m f = (let x = unbox m in f x);;
The guts of the definition of the `bind` operation amount to
- specifying how to unwrap the monadic object `m`. In the bind
- opertor for the option monad, we unwraped the option monad by
- matching the monadic object `m` with `Some n`--whenever `m`
- happend to be a box containing an integer `n`, this allowed us to
+ specifying how to unbox the monadic value `m`. In the bind
+ opertor for the option monad, we unboxed the option monad by
+ matching the monadic value `m` with `Some n`---whenever `m`
+ happened to be a box containing an integer `n`, this allowed us to
get our hands on that `n` and feed it to `f`.
-So the "option monad" consists of the polymorphic option type, the
-unit function, and the bind function. With the option monad, we can
+ If the monadic box didn't contain any ordinary value, then
+ we just pass through the empty box unaltered.
+
+ In a more complicated case, like our whimsical "singing box" example
+ from before, if the monadic value happened to be a singing box
+ containing an integer `n`, then the `bind` operation would probably
+ be defined so as to make sure that the result of `f n` was also
+ a singing box. If `f` also inserted a song, you'd have to decide
+ whether both songs would be carried through, or only one of them.
+
+ There is no single `bind` function that dictates how this must go.
+ For each new monadic type, this has to be worked out in an
+ useful way.
+
+So the "option/maybe monad" consists of the polymorphic option type, the
+unit/return function, and the bind function. With the option monad, we can
think of the "safe division" operation
<pre>
-# let divide num den = if den = 0 then None else Some (num/den);;
-val divide : int -> int -> int option = <fun>
+# let divide' num den = if den = 0 then None else Some (num/den);;
+val divide' : int -> int -> int option = <fun>
</pre>
as basically a function from two integers to an integer, except with
-this little bit of option frill, or option plumbing, on the side.
+this little bit of option plumbing on the side.
A note on notation: Haskell uses the infix operator `>>=` to stand
-for `bind`. I really hate that symbol. Following Wadler, I prefer to
-infix five-pointed star, or on a keyboard, `*`.
+for `bind`. Chris really hates that symbol. Following Wadler, he prefers to
+use an infix five-pointed star, or on a keyboard, `*`. Jim on the other hand
+thinks `>>=` is what the literature uses and students won't be able to
+avoid it. Moreover, although ⋆ is OK (though not a convention that's been picked up), overloading the multiplication symbol invites its own confusion
+and Jim feels very uneasy about that. If not `>>=` then we should use
+some other unfamiliar infix symbol (but `>>=` already is such...)
+
+In any case, the course leaders will work this out somehow. In the meantime,
+as you read around, wherever you see `m >>= f`, that means `bind m f`. Also,
+if you ever see this notation:
+
+ do
+ x <- m
+ f x
+
+That's a Haskell shorthand for `m >>= (\x -> f x)`, that is, `bind m f`.
+Similarly:
+
+ do
+ x <- m
+ y <- n
+ f x y
+
+is shorthand for `m >>= (\x -> n >>= (\y -> f x y))`, that is, `bind m (fun x
+-> bind n (fun y -> f x y))`. Those who did last week's homework may recognize
+this.
+
+(Note that the above "do" notation comes from Haskell. We're mentioning it here
+because you're likely to see it when reading about monads. It won't work in
+OCaml. In fact, the `<-` symbol already means something different in OCaml,
+having to do with mutable record fields. We'll be discussing mutation someday
+soon.)
The Monad laws