packages with orphaned instances only

[Christian Maeder]

Am 07.01.2011 14:14, schrieb Ivan Lazar Miljenovic:
> My biggest problem with "official" instances such as these is that
> they may not do what you want.  For example, I have a lot of problems
> with the testsuite for graphviz because the default list (and hence
> String) instances do not match the behaviour required, so I have to be
> careful to make sure I use my custom arbString, etc. functions rather
> than directly calling arbitrary.

This is a deficiency of classes in general that needs to be circumvented
by other functions (like QuickCheck's forAll with a custom generator)
new types (e.g. by newtype) or new classes.

> That said, if these packages have one-instance-per-module (as in
> separate modules defining the Arbitrary instances for Map, Set, etc.)
> then this situation is greatly reduced, since if I want a custom Map
> instance I just have to make sure I don't import the module that
> provides the default one.

It would also be handy (for debugging purposes) if the Show instances
could be changed for specific component types, but that's not really
possible, too.

C.