Type inequality operator

Here’s a fun trick. If you want to define a function that accepts everything but one type, you can make a type family like this. If the two types unify, we produce the type 'False of kind Bool.

type family a /~ b where
  a /~ a = 'False
  _ /~ _ = 'True

You can use it like this:

foo :: (Integral i, i /~ Word8 ~ 'True) => i -> ()
foo = undefined

The argument can be any type i that doesn’t unify with Word8. So this type-checks:

bar = foo (undefined ::  Int)

But this doesn’t:

bad = foo (undefined :: Word8)

Couldn't match type ‘'False’ with ‘'True’.

Not that I have a use for this. It was just discussed at work.