1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167
|
# recursion-schemes
[](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/recursion-schemes) [](https://github.com/ekmett/recursion-schemes/actions?query=workflow%3AHaskell-CI)
This package represents common recursion patterns as higher-order functions.
## A familiar example
Here are two recursive functions.
```haskell
sum :: [Int] -> Int
sum [] = 0
sum (x:xs) = x + sum xs
product :: [Int] -> Int
product [] = 1
product (x:xs) = x * product xs
```
These functions are very similar. In both cases, the empty list is the base case. In the cons case, each makes a recursive call on the tail of the list. Then, the head of the list is combined with the result using a binary function.
We can abstract over those similarities using a higher-order function, [`foldr`](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/base/docs/Data-List.html#v:foldr):
```haskell
sum = foldr (+) 0
product = foldr (*) 1
```
## Other recursive types
`foldr` works great for lists. The higher-order functions provided by this library help with other recursive datatypes. Here are two recursive functions on [`Tree`s](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/containers/docs/Data-Tree.html#t:Tree):
```haskell
depth :: Tree a -> Int
depth (Node _ subTrees) = 1 + maximum subTrees
size :: Tree a -> Int
size (Node _ subTrees) = 1 + sum subTrees
```
It is not possible to use `foldr` to simplify `depth`. Conceptually, `foldr` is flattening all the elements of the tree into a list before combining them with the binary function. This does not work for `depth` because it needs to examine the structure of the tree, which `foldr` flattened away.
We can instead use one of the higher-order functions provided by this library, [`cata`](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/recursion-schemes/docs/Data-Functor-Foldable.html#v:cata).
```haskell
import Data.Functor.Base (TreeF(..))
import Data.Functor.Foldable
-- data Tree a = Node a [Tree a]
-- data TreeF a r = NodeF a [r ]
depth :: Tree a -> Int
depth = cata go
where
go :: TreeF a Int -> Int
go (NodeF _ subDepths) = 1 + maximum subDepths
size :: Tree a -> Int
size = cata go
where
go :: TreeF a Int -> Int
go (NodeF _ subSizes) = 1 + sum subSizes
```
In this example, the code is a bit longer, but it is correct. Did you spot the mistake in the version which does not use `cata`? We forgot a call to `fmap`:
```haskell
depth :: Tree a -> Int
depth (Node _ subTrees) = 1 + maximum (fmap depth subTrees)
size :: Tree a -> Int
size (Node _ subTrees) = 1 + sum (fmap size subTrees)
```
`cata` automatically adds this call to `fmap`. This is why `subDepths` contains a list of already-computed depths, not a list of sub-trees. In general, each recursive position is replaced by the result of a recursive call. These results have type `Int`, not type `Tree`, so we need a helper datatype `TreeF` to collect these results.
When you think about computing the depth, you probably think "it's 1 plus the maximum of the sub-depths". With `cata`, this is exactly what we write. By contrast, without `cata`, we need to describe both the "how" and the "what" in our implementation. The "how" is about recurring over the sub-trees (using `fmap depth`), while the "what" is about adding 1 to the maximum of the sub-trees. `cata` takes care of the recursion, so you can focus solely on the "what".
A **recursion-scheme** is a function like `cata` which implements a common recursion pattern. It is a higher-order recursive function which takes a non-recursive function as an argument. That non-recursive function describes the part which is unique to your calculation: the "what".
## Types with many constructors
Let's look at a more complex example. Here is a small lambda-calculus and a function to compute the [free variables](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus#Free_variables) of an expression:
```haskell
import Data.Set (Set)
import qualified Data.Set as Set
data Expr
= Var String
| Lam String Expr
| App Expr Expr
| Constant Int
| Add Expr Expr
| Sub Expr Expr
| Mul Expr Expr
| Div Expr Expr
| ...
freeVars :: Expr -> Set String
freeVars (Var name) = Set.singleton name
freeVars (Lam name body) = Set.difference (freeVars body) (Set.singleton name)
freeVars (App e1 e2) = Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)
freeVars (Constant _) = Set.empty
freeVars (Add e1 e2) = Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)
freeVars (Sub e1 e2) = Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)
freeVars (Mul e1 e2) = Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)
freeVars (Div e1 e2) = Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)
freeVars ...
```
As you can see, we had to repeat the `Set.union (freeVars e1) (freeVars e2)` line over and over. With recursion-schemes, this code becomes much shorter:
```haskell
{-# LANGUAGE DeriveFunctor, DeriveFoldable, DeriveTraversable, TemplateHaskell, TypeFamilies #-}
import Data.Functor.Foldable.TH (makeBaseFunctor)
makeBaseFunctor ''Expr
freeVars :: Expr -> Set String
freeVars = cata go
where
go :: ExprF (Set String) -> Set String
go (VarF name) = Set.singleton name
go (LamF name bodyNames) = Set.difference bodyNames (Set.singleton name)
go fNames = foldr Set.union Set.empty fNames
```
The `makeBaseFunctor` line uses Template Haskell to generate our `ExprF` datatype, a single layer of the `Expr` datatype. `makeBaseFunctor` also generates instances which are useful when using recursion-schemes. For example, we make use of the `Foldable ExprF` instance on the last line of `go`. This `Foldable` instance exists because `ExprF` has kind `* -> *`, while `Expr` has kind `*`.
## Other recursion-schemes
All of our examples so far have used `cata`. There are many more recursion-schemes. Here is an example which follows a different recursive structure:
```haskell
-- |
-- >>> halves 256
-- [256,128,64,32,16,8,4,2,1]
halves :: Int -> [Int]
halves 0 = []
halves n = n : halves (n `div` 2)
```
That recursive structure is captured by the [`ana`](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/recursion-schemes/docs/Data-Functor-Foldable.html#v:ana) recursion-scheme:
```haskell
halves :: Int -> [Int]
halves = ana go
where
go :: Int -> ListF Int Int
go 0 = Nil
go n = Cons n (n `div` 2)
```
The [Data.Functor.Foldable](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/recursion-schemes/docs/Data-Functor-Foldable.html) module provides many more.
## Flowchart for choosing a recursion-scheme


In addition to the choices described by the flowchart, you can always choose to use a refold.
## Contributing
Contributions and [bug reports](https://github.com/ekmett/recursion-schemes/issues/new) are welcome!
|