How to combine List and State Monad in Haskell - haskell

I want to basically map over a list and at the same time carry along some state. I figured combining the list and state monads might get me there. I tried a few things and figured out that I likely need to use ListT for that. As a simplified version of my actual problem, imagine that I want to implement the sum function, while also returning a modified version of the original list. This or similar is what I imagined it would have to look like:
sum' :: ListT (State Int) Int
sum' = do
lift $ put 0
x <- [1,2,3]
lift $ modify (+x)
return $ x + 1
What I don't get yet is how the syntax of the regular list monad translates to the ListT monad. I cannot simply do x <- [1,2,3], since on the right side of the arrow, type ListT (State Int) t0 is expected. x <- return [1,2,3] compiles (as in keeps the compiler from complaining about this line) but gets me the whole list put into x, instead of each element.
How do I get this working?

x <- ListT $ return [1,2,3]
or
x <- msum $ return <$> [1,2,3]
will do the trick.
ListT . return just injects a list structure-awarely into a list-transformed monad stack.
msum uses the fact that ListT is the transformer mapping a monad to the free MonadPlus monoid over it.

Related

How to avoid the IO monad when solving arithmetic problems in SBV

I am trying to solve arithmetic problems with SBV.
For example
solution :: SymbolicT IO ()
solution = do
[x, y] <- sFloats ["x", "y"]
constrain $ x + y .<= 2
Main> s1 = sat solution
Main> s2 = isSatisfiable solution
Main> s1
Satisfiable. Model:
x = -1.2030502e-17 :: Float
z = -2.2888208e-37 :: Float
Main> :t s1
s1 :: IO SatResult
Main> s2
True
Main> :t s2
s2 :: IO Bool
While I can do useful things, it is easier for me to work with the pure value (SatResult or Bool) and not with the IO monad.
According to the documentation
sat :: Provable a => a -> IO SatResult
constrain :: SolverContext m => SBool -> m ()
sFloats :: [String] -> Symbolic [SFloat]
type Symbolic = SymbolicT IO
Given the type of functions I use, I understand why I always get to the IO monad.
But looking in the generalized versions of the functions for example sFloats.
sFloats :: MonadSymbolic m => [String] -> m [SFloat]
Depending on type of the function, I can work with a different monad than IO. This gives me hope that we will reach a more useful monad, the Identity monad for example.
Unfortunately looking at the examples always solves the problems within the IO monad, so I couldn't find any examples that would work for me.Besides that I don't have much experience working with monads.
Finally My question is:
Is there any way to avoid the IO monad when solving such a problem with SBV?
Thanks in advance
SBV calls out to the SMT solver of your choice (most likely z3, but others are available too), and presents the results back to you. This means that it performs IO under the hood, and thus you cannot be outside the IO monad. You can create custom monads using MonadSymbolic, but that will not get you out of the IO monad: Since the call to the SMT solver does IO you'll always be in IO.
(And I'd strongly caution against uses of unsafePerformIO as suggested in one of the comments. This is really a bad idea; and you can find lots more information on this elsewhere why you shouldn't do so.)
Note that this is no different than any other IO based computation in Haskell: You perform the IO "in-the-wrapper," but once you get your results, you can do whatever you'd like to do with them in a "pure" environment.
Here's a simple example:
import Data.SBV
import Data.SBV.Control
example :: IO ()
example = runSMT $ do
[x, y] <- sFloats ["x", "y"]
constrain $ x + y .<= 2
query $ do cs <- checkSat
case cs of
Unsat -> io $ putStrLn "Unsatisfiable"
Sat -> do xv <- getValue x
yv <- getValue y
let result = use xv yv
io $ putStrLn $ "Result: " ++ show result
_ -> error $ "Solver said: " ++ show cs
-- Use the results from the solver, in a purely functional way
use :: Float -> Float -> Float
use x y = x + y
Now you can say:
*Main> example
Result: -Infinity
The function example has type IO (), because it does involve calling out to the solver and getting the results. However, once you extract those results (via calls to getValue), you can pass them to the function use which has a very simple purely functional type. So, you keep the "wrapper" in the monad, but actual processing, use-of-the values, etc., remain in the pure world.
Alternatively, you can also extract the values and continue from there:
import Data.SBV
import Data.SBV.Control
example :: IO (Maybe (Float, Float))
example = runSMT $ do
[x, y] <- sFloats ["x", "y"]
constrain $ x + y .<= 2
query $ do cs <- checkSat
case cs of
Unsat -> pure Nothing
Sat -> do xv <- getValue x
yv <- getValue y
pure $ Just (xv, yv)
_ -> error $ "Solver said: " ++ show cs
Now you can say:
*Main> Just (a, b) <- example
*Main> a
-Infinity
*Main> b
4.0302105e-21
Long story short: Don't avoid the IO monad. It's there for a very good reason. Get into it, get your results out, and then the rest of your program can remain purely functional, or whatever other monad you might find yourself in.
Note that none of this is really SBV specific. This is the usual Haskell paradigm of how to use functions with side-effects. (For instance, anytime you use readFile to read the contents of a file to process it further.) Do not try to "get rid of the IO." Instead, simply work with it.
Depending on type of the function, I can work with a different monad than IO.
Not meaningfully different, in the sense you'd hope. Every instance of this class is going to be some transformed version of IO. Sorry!
Time to make a plan that involves understanding and working with IO.

Lazy evaluation of IO actions

I'm trying to write code in source -> transform -> sink style, for example:
let (|>) = flip ($)
repeat 1 |> take 5 |> sum |> print
But would like to do that using IO. I have this impression that my source can be an infinite list of IO actions, and each one gets evaluated once it is needed downstream. Something like this:
-- prints the number of lines entered before "quit" is entered
[getLine..] >>= takeWhile (/= "quit") >>= length >>= print
I think this is possible with the streaming libraries, but can it be done along the lines of what I'm proposing?
Using the repeatM, takeWhile and length_ functions from the streaming library:
import Streaming
import qualified Streaming.Prelude as S
count :: IO ()
count = do r <- S.length_ . S.takeWhile (/= "quit") . S.repeatM $ getLine
print r
This seems to be in that spirit:
let (|>) = flip ($)
let (.>) = flip (.)
getContents >>= lines .> takeWhile (/= "quit") .> length .> print
The issue here is that Monad is not the right abstraction for this, and attempting to do something like this results in a situation where referential transparency is broken.
Firstly, we can do a lazy IO read like so:
module Main where
import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
import Control.Monad(forM_)
lazyIOSequence :: [IO a] -> IO [a]
lazyIOSequence = pure . go where
go :: [IO a] -> [a]
go (l:ls) = (unsafePerformIO l):(go ls)
main :: IO ()
main = do
l <- lazyIOSequence (repeat getLine)
forM_ l putStrLn
This when run will perform cat. It will read lines and output them. Everything works fine.
But consider changing the main function to this:
main :: IO ()
main = do
l <- lazyIOSequence (map (putStrLn . show) [1..])
putStrLn "Hello World"
This outputs Hello World only, as we didn't need to evaluate any of l. But now consider replacing the last line like the following:
main :: IO ()
main = do
x <- lazyIOSequence (map (putStrLn . show) [1..])
seq (head x) putStrLn "Hello World"
Same program, but the output is now:
1
Hello World
This is bad, we've changed the results of a program just by evaluating a value. This is not supposed to happen in Haskell, when you evaluate something it should just evaluate it, not change the outside world.
So if you restrict your IO actions to something like reading from a file nothing else is reading from, then you might be able to sensibly lazily evaluate things, because when you read from it in relation to all the other IO actions your program is taking doesn't matter. But you don't want to allow this for IO in general, because skipping actions or performing them in a different order can matter (and above, certainly does). Even in the reading a file lazily case, if something else in your program writes to the file, then whether you evaluate that list before or after the write action will affect the output of your program, which again, breaks referential transparency (because evaluation order shouldn't matter).
So for a restricted subset of IO actions, you can sensibly define Functor, Applicative and Monad on a stream type to work in a lazy way, but doing so in the IO Monad in general is a minefield and often just plain incorrect. Instead you want a specialised streaming type, and indeed Conduit defines Functor, Applicative and Monad on a lot of it's types so you can still use all your favourite functions.

Haskell monad: IO [Double] to [IO Double]

Consider the following code that is supposed to print out random numbers:
import System.Random.Mersenne
main =
do g <- (newMTGen Nothing)
xs <- (randoms g) :: IO [Double]
mapM_ print xs
When run, I get a segmentation fault error. That is unsurprising, since the function 'randoms' produces an infinite list. Suppose I wanted to print out only the first ten values of xs. How could I do that? xs has type IO [Double], and I think I want a variable of type [IO Double]. What operators exist to convert between the two.
If you get a segmentation fault error, and you didn't use the FFI or any functions with unsafe in their name, that's not unsurprising, in any situation! It means there's a bug with either GHC, or a library you're using is doing something unsafe.
Printing out an infinite list of Doubles with mapM_ print is perfectly fine; the list will be processed incrementally and the program should run with constant memory usage. I suspect there is a bug in the System.Random.Mersenne module you're using, or a bug the C library it's based on, or a problem with your computer (such as faulty RAM).1 Note that newMTGen comes with this warning:
Due to the current SFMT library being vastly impure, currently only a single generator is allowed per-program. Attempts to reinitialise it will fail.
You might be better off using the provided global MTGen instead.
That said, you can't convert IO [Double] into [IO Double] in that way; there's no way to know how long the resulting list would be without executing the IO action, which is impossible, since you have a pure result (albeit one that happens to contain IO actions). For infinite lists, you could write:
desequence :: IO [a] -> [IO a]
desequence = desequence' 0
where
desequence n m = fmap (!! n) m : desequence (n+1) m
But every time you execute an action in this list, the IO [a] action would be executed again; it'd just discard the rest of the list.
The reason randoms can work and return an infinite list of random numbers is because it uses lazy IO with unsafeInterleaveIO. (Note that, despite the "unsafe" in the name, this one can't cause segfaults, so something else is afoot.)
1 Other, less likely possibilities include a miscompilation of the C library, or a bug in GHC.
Suppose I wanted to print out only the first ten values of xs. How could I do that?
Just use take:
main =
do g <- (newMTGen Nothing)
xs <- (randoms g) :: IO [Double]
mapM_ print $ take 10 xs
You wrote
xs has type IO [Double]
But actually, randoms g has type IO [Double], but thanks to the do notation, xs has type [Double], you can just apply take 10 to it.
You could also skip the binding using liftM:
main =
do g <- newMTGen Nothing
ys <- liftM (take 10) $ randoms g :: IO [Double]
mapM_ print ys

Haskell monadic IO

compute fp = do
text <- readFile fp
let (a,b) = sth text
let x = data b
--g <- x
putStr $ print_matrix $ fst $ head $ x
It works when i get only first element but i want do this for all element on the list of pair.
When i write g<- x i got Couldn't match expected type `IO t0'
with actual type [([[Integer]], [[Integer]])]
You're inside the IO Monad here, so any time you write a "bind" arrow <-, the thing on the right side has to be an IO operation. So the short answer is, you don't want to use <- on the value x.
Now, it looks like you want to call print_matrix for each element of a list rather than a single element. In that case I think Macke is on the right track, but I would use mapM_ instead:
mapM_ (putStr . print_matrix . fst) x
should do the trick.
The reason is that you are explicitly saying you want to putStr each element, one at a time, but you don't care about the result of putStr itself.
It sounds like mapM might fit your bill: Monad a => (b -> a c) -> [b] -> a [c]
It's used to apply a monadic function to a list, and get a list back, in the monad

Haskell write String, easy question

writeStr []=putChar ' '
writeStr (x:xs) = (putChar x)(writeStr xs)
Hello, and thanks in advance, i get a type error, it should be a simple answer but i just dont get where the error is coming from.
Your code is a bit strange. If I got it right, you try to print a string. Your method is to put the first string, and than the second. But it's not possible in Haskell to combine two IO actions like this. Have a look in your tutorial again about this, here's hwo it could look like:
writeStr [] = return () -- you had putChar ' ',
writeStr (x:xs) = do putChar x -- but this would print a superfluous whtiespace
writeStr xs
If you want to do several things sequentially, either use the do-keyword or monadic combinators. Its very easy, just like this:
do action1
action2
action3
...
FUZxxl has answered the immediate question, but I'd like to expand on it with some more ways of writing "writeStr" to illustrate more about monads.
As delnan said in the comments, you can also write
writeStr [] = return ()
writeStr (x:xs) = putChar x >> writeStr xs
This is actually the "desugared" version of the "do" notation. The ">>" operator is used to daisy-chain monadic actions together. Its actually a specialised version of the "bind" operator, written ">>=". See this question for more details.
But when you look at this, it seems that all we are doing is applying "putChar" to each element in the argument list. There is already a function in the Prelude called "map" for doing this, so maybe we could write:
writeStr xs = map putChar xs
But when you try that it won't work. The reason becomes evident if you go into GHCi and type this:
:type map putChar "Hello"
[IO ()]
You want a single "IO()" action, but this gives you a list of them. What you need is a function that turns this list of IO actions into a single IO action. Fortunately one exists. The Prelude contains these two functions
sequence :: [IO a] -> IO [a]
sequence_ :: [IO a] -> IO ()
The first one is for when you want the list of results, the second is for cases where you don't, like this one. (Throughout this answer I'm going to be giving the IO-specific type signatures for clarity, but its important to remember that all these functions actually work for any monad.)
So now you can write:
writeStr xs = sequence_ $ map putChar xs
But there is a way of shortening this. Recall the "." operator, which sticks two functions together, and the way Haskell has of "currying" function arguments? We can rewrite the function above as:
writeStr = sequence_ . map putChar
This "point-free" style looks and feels very odd at first; it makes "writeStr" look more like a constant than a function. But it avoids the need to track variable names around the code when you are reading it, and so is often preferred. Its also a lot shorter and more readable when you are putting something complicated as the argument to "map" or similar higher order functions.
But we can go even shorter. The "sequence . map f" pattern is very common, so the "Control.Monad" module defines a couple more functions to embody it:
mapM :: (a -> IO b) -> [a] -> IO [b]
mapM f = sequence . map f
mapM_ :: (a -> IO b) -> [a] -> IO ()
mapM_ f = sequence_ . map f
So you can finally write
writeStr = mapM_ putChar

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