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Tacit function composition in Haskell


Say I have a mean function defined like so:

mean xs = sum xs / (fromIntegral $ length xs)

but I want it in some tacit form, like this:

mean = sum / (fromIntegral . length)

Is there a built-in Haskell way to do something along these lines without having to build up my own tacit function (something like this):

tacit :: (a -> b -> c) -> (d -> a) -> (d -> b) -> d -> c
tacit a b c i = a (b i) (c i)

In this form, the function looks like this:

mean = tacit (/) sum (fromIntegral . length)

but it feels like there might be a way to avoid having to use an explicit function such as this. I'm just wondering; is there some way to do this that is built in to Haskell?


Solution

  • Applicative functors work pretty well here.

    import Control.Applicative
    
    mean = (/) <$> sum <*> (fromIntegral . length)