[Haskell-cafe] Data.List / Map: simple serialization?

[Ketil Malde]

"Dmitri O.Kondratiev" <dokondr at gmail.com> writes:

>>    xss2 <- read `fmap` readFile "output.txt"

> Two questions:
> 1) Why to use 'fmap' at all if a complete file is read in a single line of
> text?

Because it's not 'map', it's more generalized.  So the argument ('read'
here) is applied to whatever is "inside" the second argument ('readFile
...').   Here

    xss2 <- read `fmap` readFile "output.txt"

is equivalent to

    xss2 <- return . read =<< readFile "output.txt"

or 

    tmp <- readFile "output.txt"
    let xss2 = read tmp

> 2) Trying to use 'fmap' illustrates 1) producing an error (see below):
> main = do
>      let xss = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8],[9]]
>      writeFile "output.txt" (show xss)
>      xss2 <- fmap read (readFile "output.txt") :: [[Int]]
>      print xss2

   fmap read (readFile "output.txt")

is of type IO [[Int]], not [[Int]].

-k
-- 
If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants