## Function composition in Haskell (This post is intended for Haskell beginners.) In Haskell, the dot operator `(.)`, written infix like `f . g`, is _function composition_. For example, suppose you have two functions: ```haskell addone :: Int -> Int addone n = n + 1 timestwo :: Int -> Int timestwo n = n * 2 ``` then you can _compose_ those two functions like `timestwo . addone`: ```haskell -- computes 2 * (n + 1), which is 2 * n + 2 both :: Int -> Int both = timestwo . addone ``` And we can try it out in `ghci`: ``` Prelude> both 10 22 Prelude> timestwo (addone 10) 22 Prelude> 2 * (10 + 1) 22 ``` This works well, like we expect. These functions are intentionally very simple; the point of this post is to explain how function composition works, not how to write complex Haskell functions. Now suppose we have an additional, two-argument function to play with: ```haskell plus :: Int -> Int -> Int plus a b = a + b ``` If we give `plus` some arguments, we can apply `timestwo` to the result: ``` Prelude> timestwo (plus 3 4) -- 2 * (3 + 4) = 14 14 ``` Getting inspiration from the first example with `timestwo` and `addone`, we might want to try writing a function like `both` that composes `timestwo` and `plus` using `(.)`. ```haskell both2 = timestwo . plus ``` But the compiler won't accept this: ``` • Couldn't match type ‘Int -> Int’ with ‘Int’ Expected type: Int -> Int Actual type: Int -> Int -> Int • Probable cause: ‘plus’ is applied to too few arguments In the second argument of ‘(.)’, namely ‘plus’ In the expression: timestwo . plus In an equation for ‘both2’: both2 = timestwo . plus | 11 | both2 = timestwo . plus | ^^^^ ``` Why is this case different than the first example with `both`? The difference is that `plus` takes two arguments, not one. As always in Haskell, let's take a look at the types to see what's going on here. ### Types What are the types of the functions we're using? ```haskell addone :: Int -> Int timestwo :: Int -> Int plus :: Int -> Int -> Int (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> (a -> c) ``` Remember that you can look up the type of standard library functions online: e.g. [here for `(.)`](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.14.1.0/docs/Prelude.html#v:.). Function composition, `(.)`, takes a function from type `b` to type `c` and a function from type `a` to type `b`, and returns a function from type `a` to type `c`. Note that we can also write the type of `(.)` slightly differently, without the final pair of parentheses: ```haskell (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> (a -> c) (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c ``` These both mean the exact same thing. When at first, we wrote `timestwo . addone` as the definition of `both`, we were really applying `(.)` to two arguments: `timestwo` and `addone`. Indeed, we could also have written this: ```haskell both :: Int -> Int both = (.) timestwo addone ``` which means exactly the same thing as `both = timestwo . addone`. Let's do some of the compiler's work here and figure out how the types match up. (If you want to learn more about how you can do type inference by hand, one guide is [this one](http://www.vex.net/~trebla/haskell/type-inference.html).) - The first argument to `(.)` is `timestwo` of type `Int -> Int`. From the type signature of `(.)` we read that the first argument to `(.)` _should_ have type `b -> c` for certain `b` and `c`; here we get that `b` and `c` are both `Int`. - The second argument to `(.)` is `addone`, again of type `Int -> Int`. This means that `a -> b` (which, from the previous point, we know to be `a -> Int`) is really `Int -> Int`, so `a` is also `Int`. We don't apply any more arguments to `(.)`, so the return type is `a -> c`; since we know that both `a` and `c` are `Int`, this is `Int -> Int`, so `both` indeed has the right type signature. Now let's try to do the same thing with our second attempt in `both2`, namely `timestwo . plus`, which is the same as `(.) timestwo plus`. Remember the types: ```haskell timestwo :: Int -> Int plus :: Int -> Int -> Int (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> (a -> c) ``` - First argument to `(.)`: given is `timestwo :: Int -> Int`, which should match `b -> c`. So: `b` and `c` are both `Int`. - Second argument to `(.)`: given is `plus :: Int -> Int -> Int`, which should match `a -> b`; since we already know that `b` is `Int`, this is `a -> Int`. So `Int -> Int -> Int`, which is the same as `Int -> (Int -> Int)`, should match `a -> Int` for some `a`: ``` Int -> (Int -> Int) a -> Int ``` But this can never be true! We can make `a` equal to `Int`, sure, but `Int -> Int` will never match `Int`. Remember the compiler error we got earlier: ``` • Couldn't match type ‘Int -> Int’ with ‘Int’ Expected type: ... ``` Suspiciously similar, isn't it? ### Seen it coming Could we have seen this coming? Of course. Remember that the following Haskell types mean exactly the same: ```haskell a -> b -> c -> d -> e a -> (b -> (c -> (d -> e))) ``` This can be explained (or remembered) in two ways: 1. `->` is right-associative: its parentheses collect to the right. This is exactly like you may have learned that subtraction is left-associative (`1 - 2 - 3 = (1 - 2) - 3`) and exponentiation is right-associative (`1 ^ 2 ^ 3 = 1 ^ (2 ^ 3)` = 123). 2. Multi-argument functions in Haskell aren't multi-argument functions; instead, they're functions that take one argument and return a function taking the rest. The _second_ interpretation is the one that you should use, because it is by far the most useful one to really understand what is going on in Haskell with functions -- and since Haskell is a functional programming language, (almost) everything is functions, so understanding them is important! Now look again at the type of `(.)` (all three mean the same): ```haskell (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> (a -> c) (.) :: (b -> c) -> ((a -> b) -> (a -> c)) ``` (Why can't we remove the parentheses around the `b -> c` and `a -> b` in there? That is because it the type would then suddenly mean something different. Try to work that out for yourself!) We can read this as: `(.)` takes a function `g :: b -> c`, a function `f :: a -> b` and a value `x :: a`. It applies `f` to `x`, applies `g` to the result, and returns the result of that. Indeed, `(.)` can be implemented like this: ```haskell (.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c (.) g f x = g (f x) ``` Finally, now look again at our failed attempt to write `both2` as `timestwo . plus`. `plus` really takes only a single argument (an `Int`eger), and it returns a _function_ that takes a second integer and returns the sum of those two integers. So the value `f x` in the definition of `(.)` is a function in the case of `both2`! And `timestwo` takes an `Int` as input, not a function. So this is not going to work, as we've seen in a different way above. ### Conclusion We figured out why `timestwo . plus` doesn't work in two different ways: by following what the compiler does, and by reasoning on a somewhat more abstract level about what `(.)` does. Both arrive at the same conclusion, which is always good: if you have two different ways of deriving something and they give the same result, then the chances are already smaller that _both_ are wrong. Is there a way to _fix_ the error, and write the composition of `timestwo` and `plus` somehow? Yes; there are multiple ways, in fact. In this case, the best one is probably to just write it out: ```haskell both2 a b = timestwo (plus a b) ``` Arguably, this makes it the clearest what's going on. If you really want a [_pointfree_](https://wiki.haskell.org/Pointfree) (also jokingly called "pointless") version that doesn't mention any variable names, try one of the following: ```haskell both2 = (timestwo .) . plus -- same as: (\f -> timestwo . f) . plus both2 = curry (timestwo . uncurry plus) ``` But that's only for fun. Don't actually do that.