[Haskell-cafe] List of instantiated types

[Mirko Rahn]

Hello,

please suppose the following setting: (see [1] too)

{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fglasgow-exts #-}
module C where

class C a where name :: a -> String ; pre :: a -> a

data Cs = forall a . (C a) => Cs a

instance C Cs where name (Cs a) = name a ; pre (Cs a) = Cs (pre a)

mkCs :: C a => a -> Cs
mkCs = Cs

instance C Int where name = show ; pre = \ _ -> 0
instance C Char where name = return ; pre = \ _ -> 'A'

all_Cs = [ mkCs (undefined :: Int), mkCs (undefined :: Char) ]

Note that despite I served undefined values only I can type

*C> map (name . pre) all_Cs
["0","A"]

to extract some information. But, when several instances spreads over 
some modules, writing down 'all_Cs' is an error-prone task, in 
particular when using some third party modules.

So my question is: Is it possible to construct 'all_Cs' automatically?

I think such a list cannot be constructed at compile-time, but at link- 
and run-time a complete list of instantiated types should be available. 
But is this list accessible somehow? Is there a possibility to write

foreach type t that is an instance of C:
    return (mkCs (undefined :: t))

What is the general problem?

Thanks, MR

[1] http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2006-March/014947.html

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