MRE:
class Foo s where
myCons :: Char -> s -> s
myCons c xs = <my definition of however I wish to interpret this>
instance (Eq, Show) Foo where
(:) x y = x `myCons` y
Error:
Pattern bindings (except simple variables) not allowed in instance declaration:
(:) x y = x `myCons` y
What am I doing wrong?
What I want to do:
fooFromList :: [Int] -> Foo
fooFromList [] = Foo []
fooFromList (x:xs) = let x' = (convertDigitToChar x) in x':(fooFromList xs)
I recommend simply extracting the Foo application outside of the recursion. (In fact... is a new type really needed, or have you just made it as a guess? What does Foo do that [Char] doesn't?)
fooFromList :: [Int] -> Foo
fooFromList xs = Foo (map convertDigitToChar xs)
So if I am trying to make Foo an instance of Eq and Show, how would I do that?
The compiler can write those instances for you, and it's rare to do something different than what the deriver does.
data Foo = Foo [Char] deriving (Eq, Show)