Both newtype and the single-constructor data introduce a single value constructor, but the value constructor introduced by newtype is strict and the value constructor introduced by data is lazy. So if you have data D = D Int newtype N = N Int Then N undefined is equivalent to undefined and causes an error when … Read more
Dependently Typed Haskell, Now? Haskell is, to a small extent, a dependently typed language. There is a notion of type-level data, now more sensibly typed thanks to DataKinds, and there is some means (GADTs) to give a run-time representation to type-level data. Hence, values of run-time stuff effectively show up in types, which is what … Read more
When someone defines a universal type ∀X they’re saying: You can plug in whatever type you want, I don’t need to know anything about the type to do my job, I’ll only refer to it opaquely as X. When someone defines an existential type ∃X they’re saying: I’ll use whatever type I want here; you … Read more
The ability of the interpreter to deduce type and type conversions makes development time faster, but it also can provoke runtime failures which you just cannot get in a statically typed language where you catch them at compile time. But which one’s better (or even if that’s always true) is hotly discussed in the community … Read more
Great question! There are several key differences. Representation A newtype guarantees that your data will have exactly the same representation at runtime, as the type that you wrap. While data declares a brand new data structure at runtime. So the key point here is that the construct for the newtype is guaranteed to be erased … Read more