[Haskell-cafe] Newbie question: "multi-methods" in Haskell

[Brian Hulley]

Dan Weston wrote:
> Remember that type classes do not provide object-oriented 
> functionality. The dispatch is static, not dynamic. Although OOP can 
> be simulated in Haskell, it is not a natural idiom. If you need 
> dynamic dispatch (including multiple dispatch), you may want to 
> reconsider your solution.
Dynamic dispatch is easily added to Haskell code by using an existential 
to represent any collision:

{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fglasgow-exts -fallow-undecidable-instances 
-fallow-overlapping-instances #-}

module Collide where

-- Changed to a single param to make life easier...
class Collide a where
    collide :: a -> String

data Solid = Solid
data Asteroid = Asteroid
data Planet = Planet
data Jupiter = Jupiter
data Earth = Earth

instance Collide (Asteroid, Planet) where
    collide (Asteroid, Planet) = "an asteroid hit a planet"

instance Collide (Asteroid, Earth) where
    collide (Asteroid, Earth) = "the end of the dinos"

-- Needs overlapping and undecidable instances
instance Collide (a, b) => Collide (b, a) where
    collide (a,b) = collide (b, a)

-- This is how you get dynamic dispatch in Haskell
data Collision = forall a. Collide a => Collision a

instance Collide Collision where
    collide (Collision a) = collide a

-- ghci output
*Collide> let ae = Collision (Asteroid, Earth)
*Collide> let pa = Collision (Planet, Asteroid)
*Collide> collide ae
"the end of the dinos"
*Collide> collide pa
"an asteroid hit a planet"
*Collide> map collide [ae, pa]
["the end of the dinos","an asteroid hit a planet"]


Best regards, Brian.