DDC/FieldProjections

This is outdated information. The DDC project has moved to http://discus-lang.org

Data fields

When data types are defined using field names, we can use the projection operator (.) to select the fields.

data Vector
         = Vector { x :: Float; y :: Float; }

main ()
 = do   vec = Vector 3.0 4.0
        out vec.x          -- prints '3.0'
        out vec.y          -- prints '4.0'

Custom projections

We can also define our own, custom projections and use (.) to select them. A project definition is similar to a regular instance definition in that it defines a set of functions associated with a particular type (in this case, Vector). When we use (.), its first argument is passed as the first argument to our projection function - and so on.

project Vector where
        magnitude :: Vector -> Float
        magnitude (Vector x y) 
         = sqrt (x * x + y * y)

        dot :: Vector -> Vector -> Float
        dot (Vector x1 y1) (Vector x2 y2)
         = x1 * x2 + y1 * y2

main ()
 = do   ...
        out vec.magnitude               -- prints '5.0'
        out vec.dot (Vector 5.0 6.0)    -- prints '39.0'

Projections are type directed

In Disciple we can re-use the same field names in multiple data types, each with different field types. The type system uses the type of the first argument of (.) to determine what projection function to use. Alternatively, we can use the (&) operator to specify the projection type manually.

data Location 
        = Location { x :: String; y :: String; }

main ()
 = do   ...
        loc = Location "over" "there"
        out loc.x                      -- prints 'over'

        out $ magnitude&{Vector} vec   -- prints '5.0'

Using (&), we can also use "projection" functions who's first argument is not of the projection type.

project Vector where
        ...
        new :: Float -> Float -> Vector
        new posX posY = Vector posX posY

main ()
 = do   ...
        vec2  = new&{Vector} 5.0 6.0

Ambiguous projections

As Disciple uses the type of the first argument of (.) to decide what projection to use, it needs to be constrained to a data type (not just a type variable). Usually a top level type signature is enough.

Compilation of this function:

getX thing = thing.x

will fail with

    ./Main.ds: ...
        Ambiguous projection: .x

as there is no way of knowing what version of .x to use, are we talking about the .x from Vector or Location?

Providing a type signature adds the required constraint.

getx :: Vector -> Float
getX thing = thing.x