haskellfunctional-programmingfixed-point-iteration

How to write a fixed point function in haskell


I have a function with the following signature:

simCon :: [Constraint] -> Maybe [Constraint]

I would like to write a method which, incase simCon returns Just [Constraint], I want to feed them back into simCon and rerun the method, and to keep doing this until the input is the same as the output.

In case of Nothing, I would want to terminate the algorithm.

I have something that would work if both the input and output are the same type

fixed :: Eq a => (a -> a) -> a -> a
fixed f a 
  | a == a' = a
  | otherwise = fixed f a'
  where a' = f a

But this isn't going to work because I return a Maybe now. Can someone suggest a way to write a similar function but for a return type of Maybe?


Solution

  • We can make use of the bind function here:

    import Data.Bool(bool)
    import Control.Monad(liftM2)
    
    fixedM :: (Eq a, Monad m) => (a -> m a) -> a -> m a
    fixedM f = go
        where go x = f x >>= (liftM2 bool go pure <*> (x ==))
    

    A more verbose implementation is:

    fixedM :: (Eq a, Monad m) => (a -> m a) -> a -> m a
    fixedM f x = do
        x' <- f x
        if x == x'
            then pure x'
            else fixedM f x'
    

    We thus first calculate x' with f x. In case f x return Just x', then we continue. In case f x return Nothing, the fixedM will return Nothing as well. We then compare x with x'. In case the two are equal, we return pure x', otherwise we recurse on fixedM f x'.

    Alternatively, we can make use of pattern matching, although this is basically making the bind operator explicit (and only working for a Maybe):

    import Control.Monad(ap)
    
    fixedM :: Eq a => (a -> Maybe a) -> a -> Maybe a
    fixedM f = ap go f
        where go x (Just x') | x == x' = go x' (f x')
                             | otherwise = Just x'
              go _ _ = Nothing
    

    we can make it more compact by using pattern guards:

    fixedM :: Eq a => (a -> Maybe a) -> a -> Maybe a
    fixedM f = go
        where go x | Just x' <- f x = bool (go x) (Just x) (x == x')
                   | otherwise = Nothing