network
network copied to clipboard
Refactoring ProtocolNumber as newtype
In the current implementation of network, the ProtocolNumber
type, defined in Network.Socket.Types
, is given as
type ProtocolNumber = CInt
which means that it can only ever be displayed using the show
method for Foreign.C.Types.CInt
.
I initially was considering working on redefining it along the lines of
newtype ProtocolNumber = ProtocolNumber CInt
deriving (Eq, Ord, Enum, Real, Num, Integral)
so that the implicit constraint Num a => a
on numeric literals would be maintained, and so that it would be possible to define custom Read/Show instances that used pattern synonyms for commonly used protocols (e.g. TCP and UDP) for human-readability. (Along the lines of the pattern-synonym read/show work I implemented in #465 and #466)
Values that correspond to obsolete or extremely uncommon protocols could just be represented numerically, without any constructor syntax, as they are currently represented (and parsed) by default.
However, @vdukhovni pointed out that this would break the API for anyone using either variables or literals with explicit :: CInt
signatures where ProtocolNumber
values are expected, which could be either a trivial issue or a major problem depending on how common such usage is in the countless projects that have a dependency on network.
In any case, it seemed like enough of an obstacle that I wanted to consult with the project maintainers before I embark on a doomed mission that would break an indeterminate fraction of network-dependent code.
I encourage you to continue this work. Your work would be merged into the next major release (probably soon) because of compatibility issue.