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Punning

It is common to see type definitions like the following:

data ChessPiece = ChessPiece Int Int

The first occurrence of ChessPiece is a type, but the second is a value, namely a function of type Int -> Int -> ChessPiece.

The name of the type and value don't have to be the same, but it's common to make this choice to avoid having to invent a new name like MkChessPiece.

Punning and recursive types

There is even more potential for confusion when a type is recursive, so that the type can itself appear on the right hand side of its definition:

data BinTree = Leaf Int | BinTree BinTree BinTree
--  type ^             value ^  type ^   type ^

Here, the second occurrence of BinTree is a value, and the rest are types.

Common examples of punning

  • (Bool, Int) is a type, but (True, 4) is a value
  • [Bool] is the type of lists of booleans, but [True] is a value, a list with a single element.
  • () is a type, and contains a single value, also called ().
  • ReaderT is both to a type, and a value, the constructor for that type. Similarly for ExceptT, StateT and others
Last update: January 12, 2023
Created: August 18, 2022

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