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Asked: 2026-06-17T08:38:20+00:00

Will GHC transform an expression with intermediate values as efficiently as one without? e.g.

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Will GHC transform an expression with intermediate values as efficiently as one without?

e.g.

main = print $ f ["aa", "bb", "cc"]

f x = 
   let a = map (map toUpper) x
       b = filter (\z -> 'C' /= head z) a
       c = foldl1 (++) b
   in c

seems to have very different core output (with -ddump-simple) than with

f x = foldl1 (++) $ filter (\z -> 'C' /= head z) $ map (map toUpper) x

Could an expression with intermediate values take (significantly) longer to evaluate?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Linear use of intermediate let bindings is equivalent to putting (.) between the values.

    GHC will fuse through such pipelines. You can see from the results of -ddump-simpl-stats

    With let Bindings:

    15 RuleFired
    1 ++
    1 Class op /=
    1 Class op show
    1 Class op showList
    1 filter
    1 fold/build
    1 foldr/app
    1 map
    1 neChar#->case
    3 unpack
    3 unpack-list

    Using a pipeline:

    15 RuleFired
    1 ++
    1 Class op /=
    1 Class op show
    1 Class op showList
    1 filter
    1 fold/build
    1 foldr/app
    1 map
    1 neChar#->case
    3 unpack
    3 unpack-list

    And the same fused worker:

    With let Bindings:

    Main.main_go =
  \ (ds_aAz :: [[GHC.Types.Char]]) ->
    case ds_aAz of _ {
      [] -> GHC.Types.[] @ [GHC.Types.Char];
      : y_aAE ys_aAF ->
        case GHC.Base.map
               @ GHC.Types.Char @ GHC.Types.Char GHC.Unicode.toUpper y_aAE
        of wild1_azI {
          [] ->
            GHC.List.badHead
            `cast` (UnsafeCo (forall a_azK. a_azK) [[GHC.Types.Char]]
                    :: (forall a_azK. a_azK) ~ [[GHC.Types.Char]]);
          : x_azM ds1_azN ->
            case x_azM of _ { GHC.Types.C# c2_aAa ->
            case c2_aAa of _ {
              __DEFAULT ->
                GHC.Types.: @ [GHC.Types.Char] wild1_azI (Main.main_go ys_aAF);
              'C' -> Main.main_go ys_aAF
            }

    Pipeline:

    Main.main_go =
  \ (ds_aAA :: [[GHC.Types.Char]]) ->
    case ds_aAA of _ {
      [] -> GHC.Types.[] @ [GHC.Types.Char];
      : y_aAF ys_aAG ->
        case GHC.Base.map
               @ GHC.Types.Char @ GHC.Types.Char GHC.Unicode.toUpper y_aAF
        of wild1_azB {
          [] ->
            GHC.List.badHead
            `cast` (UnsafeCo (forall a_azD. a_azD) [[GHC.Types.Char]]
                    :: (forall a_azD. a_azD) ~ [[GHC.Types.Char]]);
          : x_azF ds1_azG ->
            case x_azF of _ { GHC.Types.C# c2_aA3 ->
            case c2_aA3 of _ {
              __DEFAULT ->
                GHC.Types.: @ [GHC.Types.Char] wild1_azB (Main.main_go ys_aAG);
              'C' -> Main.main_go ys_aAG
            }
            }

    Did you forget to compile with -O2 ?

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