MonadFix

The MonadFix typeclass provides the mfix method for value recursion. It can be used directly, or indirectly through the mdo-notation (language extension RecursiveDo). It is useful for building cyclic data in monadic code.

Trivia: “mdo” comes from “µ” and “do”; “µ” is associated with recursion among researchers.

What it is not and what it is

It is tempting to see “recursion” and guess it means performing actions recursively or repeatedly. No. It means recursion over values passed into and returned by actions; this is why it is called “value recursion”. An action may use a value to be returned by the same action, or even returned by another action several lines of code later. Some uses are: creating cyclic data structures; using monadic code to specify a graph or network.

Examples

Imperative cyclic linked lists

This example creates linked lists the imperative way: each node has a number and a pointer to the next node; a pointer is an IORef. (For simplicity, the number is immutable here, but this can be changed.) We can create a node that points back to itself. The message “node created” is printed only once, demonstrating that the action is not recursively run; rather, the pointer is recursively made/used.

with mdo	with mfix
{-# LANGUAGE RecursiveDo #-} import Data.IORef data Node = Node Int (IORef Node) mknode = mdo p <- newIORef (Node 0 p) putStrLn "node created" return p main = do p <- mknode Node x q <- readIORef p print x Node y _ <- readIORef q print y	import Control.Monad.Fix import Data.IORef data Node = Node Int (IORef Node) mknode = mfix (\p -> do p' <- newIORef (Node 0 p) putStrLn "node created" return p') main = do p <- mknode Node x q <- readIORef p print x Node y _ <- readIORef q print y

We can also create two nodes pointing to each other. A line of code can use an IORef obtained in a later line.

with mdo	with mfix
{-# LANGUAGE RecursiveDo #-} import Data.IORef data Node = Node Int (IORef Node) mk2nodes = mdo p <- newIORef (Node 0 r) r <- newIORef (Node 1 p) putStrLn "nodes created" return p main = do p <- mk2nodes Node x q <- readIORef p print x Node y _ <- readIORef q print y	import Control.Monad.Fix import Data.IORef data Node = Node Int (IORef Node) mk2nodes = mfix (\ ~(p,r) -> do p' <- newIORef (Node 0 r) r' <- newIORef (Node 1 p') putStrLn "nodes created" return (p',r')) >>= \(p,r) -> return p main = do p <- mk2nodes Node x q <- readIORef p print x Node y _ <- readIORef q print y

Lazy algorithm interleaved with effects

A binary tree (immutable) with numbers at internal nodes is given. Replicate the tree but replace the numbers by their sum. Example in ASCII art (4+3+5+1=13) (leaves do nothing and are not shown):

given:     answer:
  4         13
 / \        / \
3   5      13 13
     \          \
      1         13

Traverse the given tree just once. Moreover, as you traverse the given tree, print it out in some format (in-order format here, like ((3)4(5(1))), but you can modify for pre-order or post-order).

Here is an approach. Given tree t and number s, rep_x_sum t s is written to do two things: replicate t but replace the numbers by s throughout, and sum up the numbers in t. (The name “rep cross sum” means it returns the tuple of the replaced tree and the sum.) This requires just one traversal. Now call this function in such as way as to feed the returned sum back into the parameter s, and we will sneak the sum into the replaced tree! Example in ASCII art:

given:     answer:
  4           s
 / \         / \
3   5      (s   s  , 13)
     \           \
      1           s
           where s=13

So far this can be written in pure code, needing no Monad or MonadFix. But we also want to print something inside the algorithm, which brings in the IO Monad or the Writer Monad (this example uses IO); and to feed a return value back into a parameter in this monadic algorithm, we need MonadFix.

with mdo

with mfix

{-# LANGUAGE RecursiveDo #-} data BTree = Z | B Int BTree BTree deriving Show repsum t = mdo (u,s) <- rep_x_sum t s putStrLn "" return u rep_x_sum Z _ = return (Z, 0) rep_x_sum (B i l r) s = do putStr "(" (l',sl) <- rep_x_sum l s putStr (show i) (r',sr) <- rep_x_sum r s putStr ")" return (B s l' r', i + sl + sr) main = repsum (B 4 (B 3 Z Z) (B 5 Z (B 1 Z Z))) >>= print

import Control.Monad.Fix data BTree = Z | B Int BTree BTree deriving Show repsum t = mfix (\ ~(u,s) -> do (u',s') <- rep_x_sum t s putStrLn "" return (u',s')) >>= \(u,s) -> return u rep_x_sum Z _ = return (Z, 0) rep_x_sum (B i l r) s = do putStr "(" (l',sl) <- rep_x_sum l s putStr (show i) (r',sr) <- rep_x_sum r s putStr ")" return (B s l' r', i + sl + sr) main = repsum (B 4 (B 3 Z Z) (B 5 Z (B 1 Z Z))) >>= print

Note that this algorithm does not need laziness in the tree data structure: making the tree fields strict still works:

data BTree = Z | B !Int !BTree !BTree deriving Show

The laziness needed is just in the rep_x_sum algorithm: it does not evaluate s. For example adding some $! in the code will break it:

  (r',sr) <- rep_x_sum r $! s

If the given tree is mutable, we can choose to change the numbers in-place instead of building a new tree. Do not worry about race conditions of not knowing whether a number read is old or new — the first thing we do when we visit a node, we read its number to a variable name, so it is the old number; subsequently no matter what we do to the node, that variable name still refers to the old number, so we can rely on it. (For simplicity, only the numbers are mutable here, and the tree shape is immutable.)

with mdo

with mfix

{-# LANGUAGE RecursiveDo #-} import Data.IORef data BTree = Z | B (IORef Int) BTree BTree repsum t = mdo s <- rep_x_sum t s putStrLn "" return () rep_x_sum Z _ = return 0 rep_x_sum (B ref l r) s = do i <- readIORef ref writeIORef ref s putStr "(" sl <- rep_x_sum l s putStr (show i) sr <- rep_x_sum r s putStr ")" return (i + sl + sr) main = do r4 <- newIORef 4 r3 <- newIORef 3 r5 <- newIORef 5 r1 <- newIORef 1 let t = (B r4 (B r3 Z Z) (B r5 Z (B r1 Z Z))) repsum t repsum t

import Control.Monad.Fix import Data.IORef data BTree = Z | B (IORef Int) BTree BTree repsum t = mfix (\s -> do s' <- rep_x_sum t s putStrLn "" return s') >> return () rep_x_sum Z _ = return 0 rep_x_sum (B ref l r) s = do i <- readIORef ref writeIORef ref s putStr "(" sl <- rep_x_sum l s putStr (show i) sr <- rep_x_sum r s putStr ")" return (i + sl + sr) main = do r4 <- newIORef 4 r3 <- newIORef 3 r5 <- newIORef 5 r1 <- newIORef 1 let t = (B r4 (B r3 Z Z) (B r5 Z (B r1 Z Z))) repsum t repsum t

We call repsum twice in main: the purpose of the second call is printing the tree so we see the updates of the first call.