Question

I have twice recently refactored code in order to change the order of parameters because there was too much code where hacks like flip or \x -> foo bar x 42 were happening.

When designing a function signature what principles will help me to make the best use of currying?

Answer 1

For languages that support currying and partial-application easily, there is one compelling series of arguments, originally from Chris Okasaki:

• Put the data structure as the last argument

Why? You can then compose operations on the data nicely. E.g. insert 1 $ insert 2 $ insert 3 $ s. This also helps for functions on state.

Standard libraries such as “containers” follow this convention.

Alternate arguments are sometimes given to put the data structure first, so it can be closed over, yielding functions on a static structure (e.g. lookup) that are a bit more concise. However, the broad consensus seems to be that this is less of a win, especially since it pushes you towards heavily parenthesized code.

• Put the most varying argument last

For recursive functions, it is common to put the argument that varies the most (e.g. an accumulator) as the last argument, while the argument that varies the least (e.g. a function argument) at the start. This composes well with the data structure last style.

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A summary of the Okasaki view is given in his Edison library (again, another data structure library):

• Partial application: arguments more likely to be static usually appear before other arguments in order to facilitate partial application.
• Collection appears last: in all cases where an operation queries a single collection or modifies an existing collection, the collection argument will appear last. This is something of a de facto standard for Haskell datastructure libraries and lends a degree of consistency to the API.
• Most usual order: where an operation represents a well-known mathematical function on more than one datastructure, the arguments are chosen to match the most usual argument order for the function.