CODEWITHSUNDEEP
haskell
softshipper
softshipper

Reputation: 34097

What is the type of a?

I have the following statement:

Prelude> :t error "Hello"
error "Hello" :: a

that I would like to know, what is the type of a?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 178

Answers (2)

OpenAI was the last straw
OpenAI was the last straw

Reputation: 2044

a is the type; that is, error "Hello" can be any type, and GHCi can't tell you what specific type it should be without more context.

Values of type a (with no constraints, not e.g. Eq a => a) are called "bottom values," and they arise as exceptional states or certain non-terminating expressions. Perhaps the best-known bottom value is Prelude.undefined:

undefined :: a

Trying to examine this value will throw

*** Exception: Prelude.undefined

Likewise, your error "Hello" will throw

*** Exception: Hello

(Thus undefined is just error "Prelude.undefined".) An example of a nonterminating expression with type a is:

let q = q in q
:t q
q :: a

And attempting to evaluate that expression will enter an infinite loop.

Upvotes: 6

chepner
chepner

Reputation: 531693

a is a type variable, one that could be unified with any concrete type you like. Want to add error "Hello" to an Integer? OK.

> :t error "Hello" + (3 :: Integer)
error "Hello" + (3 :: Integer) :: Integer

Want to prepend a Maybe Char value? No problem.

> :t Just 'c' : error "Hello"
Just 'c' : error "Hello" :: [Maybe Char]

Whatever you want a to be, error will tell you it can return a value of that type.

Of course, this is a moot point, because error will never actually return.

> error "Hello" + (3 :: Integer)
*** Exception: Hello
CallStack (from HasCallStack):
  error, called at <interactive>:3:1 in interactive:Ghci1

> Just 'c' : error "Hello"
[Just 'c'*** Exception: Hello
CallStack (from HasCallStack):
  error, called at <interactive>:4:12 in interactive:Ghci1

Especially in the last one: ghci starts to output a value of type [Maybe Char], and succeeds at outputting the first element, because (:) is non-strict in its second element. Not until an attempt is actually made to get the second value does error "Hello" get evaluated and its "bluff" is called. Rather than being able to match it against either [] or (:), a runtime exception occurs.

Upvotes: 7

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