X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lambda.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=week7.mdwn;h=af8c17e5f05c286b2fd01237449d82337df5e7fc;hp=4e52490e7eaf242958a88a548aec65b4b2c3b1c1;hb=386b3d90a12ae3c787bd6620194e6fe736cf8e0e;hpb=b221494c397f7a6841b95ceeb227ac436d98440e diff --git a/week7.mdwn b/week7.mdwn index 4e52490e..af8c17e5 100644 --- a/week7.mdwn +++ b/week7.mdwn @@ -1,8 +1,159 @@ [[!toc]] -Monads ------- +Towards Monads: Safe division +----------------------------- + +Integer division 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 2;;
+- : int option = Some 6
+# div' 12 0;;
+- : int option = None
+# div' (div' 12 2) 3;;
+Characters 4-14:
+  div' (div' 12 2) 3;;
+        ^^^^^^^^^^
+Error: This expression has type int option
+       but an expression was expected of type int
+*)
+
+ +This starts off well: dividing 12 by 2, 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' (u:int option) (v:int option) =
+  match v with
+	  None -> None
+    | Some 0 -> None
+	| Some y -> (match u with
+					  None -> None
+                    | Some x -> Some (x / y));;
+
+(*
+val div' : int option -> int option -> int option = 
+# div' (Some 12) (Some 2);;
+- : int option = Some 6
+# div' (Some 12) (Some 0);;
+- : int option = None
+# div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 3);;
+- : int option = None
+*)
+
+ +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: + +
+let div' (u:int option) (v:int option) =
+  match (u, v) with
+	  (None, _) -> None
+    | (_, None) -> None
+    | (_, Some 0) -> None
+	| (Some x, Some y) -> Some (x / y);;
+
+ +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 has triggered a +presupposition failure: + +
+let add' (u:int option) (v:int option) =
+  match (u, v) with
+	  (None, _) -> None
+    | (_, None) -> None
+    | (Some x, Some y) -> Some (x + y);;
+
+(*
+val add' : int option -> int option -> int option = 
+# add' (Some 12) (Some 4);;
+- : int option = Some 16
+# add' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 4);;
+- : int option = None
+*)
+
+ +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. + +
+let bind' (u: int option) (f: int -> (int option)) =
+  match u with
+	  None -> None
+    | Some x -> f x;;
+
+let add' (u: int option) (v: int option)  =
+  bind' u (fun x -> bind' v (fun y -> Some (x + y)));;
+
+let div' (u: int option) (v: int option) =
+  bind' u (fun x -> bind' v (fun y -> if (0 = y) then None else Some (x / y)));;
+
+(*
+#  div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 2)) (Some 3);;
+- : int option = Some 2
+#  div' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 3);;
+- : int option = None
+# add' (div' (Some 12) (Some 0)) (Some 3);;
+- : 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). + + + + +Monads in General +----------------- Start by (re)reading the discussion of monads in the lecture notes for week 6 [[Towards Monads]]. @@ -305,7 +456,12 @@ Here are some papers that introduced monads into functional programming: * [Eugenio Moggi, Notions of Computation and Monads](http://www.disi.unige.it/person/MoggiE/ftp/ic91.pdf): Information and Computation 93 (1) 1991. * [Philip Wadler. Monads for Functional Programming](http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/papers/marktoberdorf/baastad.pdf): -in M. Broy, editor, *Marktoberdorf Summer School on Program Design Calculi*, Springer Verlag, NATO ASI Series F: Computer and systems sciences, Volume 118, August 1992. Also in J. Jeuring and E. Meijer, editors, *Advanced Functional Programming*, Springer Verlag, LNCS 925, 1995. Some errata fixed August 2001. +in M. Broy, editor, *Marktoberdorf Summer School on Program Design +Calculi*, Springer Verlag, NATO ASI Series F: Computer and systems +sciences, Volume 118, August 1992. Also in J. Jeuring and E. Meijer, +editors, *Advanced Functional Programming*, Springer Verlag, +LNCS 925, 1995. Some errata fixed August 2001. This paper has a great first +line: **Shall I be pure, or impure?** * [Philip Wadler. The essence of functional programming](http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/papers/essence/essence.ps): @@ -314,7 +470,7 @@ invited talk, *19'th Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages*, ACM Pres Monads increase the ease with which programs may be modified. They can mimic the effect of impure features such as exceptions, state, and continuations; and also provide effects not easily achieved with such features. The types of a program reflect which effects occur. The first section is an extended example of the use of monads. A simple interpreter is modified to support various extra features: error messages, state, output, and non-deterministic choice. The second section describes the relation between monads and continuation-passing style. The third section sketches how monads are used in a compiler for Haskell that is written in Haskell.--> -* [Daniel Friedman. A Schemer's View of Monads](/schemersviewofmonads.ps): from but hosted the link above is to a local copy. +* [Daniel Friedman. A Schemer's View of Monads](/schemersviewofmonads.ps): from but the link above is to a local copy. There's a long list of monad tutorials on the [[Offsite Reading]] page. Skimming the titles makes me laugh.