Rank-N types, a simple DB example

This is a very simple example of rank-N types to demonstrate to non-Haskellers/newbies.

Following the resources theme, rank-N types as seen in the ST monad are also a gem:

{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
{-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}

Define a monad for interacting with the DB parametrized on a connection type variable, c, as well as the return type:

newtype DB c a = DB (IO a) deriving (Monad)

And a connection data type parametrized on the connection type variable:

newtype Connection c = Connection ()

Define the connection opening function such that the quantified type variable c cannot escape from the DB monad:

withConnection :: (forall c. DB c a) -> IO a
withConnection m = case m of DB io -> io

Let’s say in a real implementation withConnection opens a database connection in a transaction and commits and closes when done, among other exception catching things.

Define some functions for the DB monad (note they all reference the c type variable):

getConn :: DB c (Connection c)
getConn = return (Connection ())

query :: Connection c -> String -> DB c [String]
query _ _ = return ["Hello!"]

Now we can use it like this:

demo1 = withConnection $ do
  conn <- getConn
  rows <- query conn "SELECT …"
  return rows

λ> demo1
["Hello!"]

But if you try to return the connection…

 demo2 = withConnection $ do
   conn <- getConn
   rows <- query conn "SELECT …"
   return conn

You get a compile error:

Error:  Inferred type is less polymorphic than expected
      Quantified type variable `c' escapes

This is pretty nice if your DB library implementation, e.g., is supposed to ensure operations on a connection run inside a transaction, or if your operations assume a connection exists. Otherwise you’re liable to having DB code run outside of a transaction, or code throwing exceptions because the connection was closed but we tried to use it anyway, or in severe cases, some C DB libraries will just segfault.

We didn’t have to do anything complex or write any boilerplate or macros or whatnot, just use the type system. That’s what it’s for.