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by lkitching
1715 days ago
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> `Maybe a` is a type-lambda abstraction (still a type) I don't know what you mean by this - lambdas are values not types. You could argue the type of the Maybe type constructor is Type -> Type but there is no Type type in Haskell so Maybe is not a 'type' in the Haskell type system in the way e.g. String is. The separation of types and values is AFAIK the defining characteristic of non-dependent type systems, which Haskell is (for now). |
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I think they meant "`Maybe` is a type-lambda abstraction", meaning roughly "a type-level function", which seems true to me. I don't think they meant to say that `Maybe` is a type in the same way String is. (I'd agree it's not, though I'd still call it a type.)
> there is no Type type in Haskell
Incidentally there is[1], and it even has kind `Type` just like `String` does. So you can ask "what is the kind of `Maybe Type`" (it's `Type`) where you can't ask "what is the kind of `Maybe Maybe`" (`Maybe` has kind `Type -> Type` so this is a kind error).
[1]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/base-4.15.0.0/docs/Data-...