ghc-typelits-knownnat

A type checker plugin for GHC that can derive "complex" KnownNat constraints from other simple/variable KnownNat constraints. i.e. without this plugin, you must have both a KnownNat n and a KnownNat (n+2) constraint in the type signature of the following function:

f :: forall n . (KnownNat n, KnownNat (n+2)) => Proxy n -> Integer
f _ = natVal (Proxy :: Proxy n) + natVal (Proxy :: Proxy (n+2))

Using the plugin you can omit the KnownNat (n+2) constraint:

f :: forall n . KnownNat n => Proxy n -> Integer
f _ = natVal (Proxy :: Proxy n) + natVal (Proxy :: Proxy (n+2))

The plugin can derive KnownNat constraints for types consisting of:

• Type variables, when there is a corresponding KnownNat constraint
• Type-level naturals
• Applications of the arithmetic expression: {+,-,*,^}
• Type functions, when there is either:
  • a matching given KnownNat constraint; or
  • a corresponding KnownNat<N> instance for the type function

To elaborate the latter points, given the type family Min:

type family Min (a :: Nat) (b :: Nat) :: Nat where
  Min 0 b = 0
  Min a b = If (a <=? b) a b

the plugin can derive a KnownNat (Min x y + 1) constraint given only a KnownNat (Min x y) constraint:

g :: forall x y . (KnownNat (Min x y)) => Proxy x -> Proxy y -> Integer
g _ _ = natVal (Proxy :: Proxy (Min x y + 1))

And, given the type family Max:

type family Max (a :: Nat) (b :: Nat) :: Nat where
  Max 0 b = b
  Max a b = If (a <=? b) b a

and corresponding KnownNat2 instance:

instance (KnownNat a, KnownNat b) => KnownNat2 "TestFunctions.Max" a b where
  natSing2 = let x = natVal (Proxy @ a)
                 y = natVal (Proxy @ b)
                 z = max x y
             in  SNatKn z
  {-# INLINE natSing2 #-}

the plugin can derive a KnownNat (Max x y + 1) constraint given only a KnownNat x and KnownNat y constraint:

h :: forall x y . (KnownNat x, KnownNat y) => Proxy x -> Proxy y -> Integer
h _ _ = natVal (Proxy :: Proxy (Max x y + 1))

To use the plugin, add the

OPTIONS_GHC -fplugin GHC.TypeLits.KnownNat.Solver

Pragma to the header of your file.