Parametric Datatype-Genericity

Datatype-generic programs are programs that are parametrized by a datatype or type functor: whereas polymorphic programs abstract from the 'integers' in 'lists of integers', datatype-generic programs abstract from the 'lists of'. There are two main styles of datatype-generic programming: the Algebra of Programming approach, characterized by structured recursion operators arising from initial algebras and final coalgebras, and the Generic Haskell approach, characterized by case analysis over the structure of a datatype. We show that the former enjoys a kind of higherorder naturality, relating the behaviours of generic functions at different types; in contrast, the latter is ad hoc, with no coherence required or provided between the various clauses of a definition. Moreover, the naturality properties arise 'for free', simply from the parametrized types of the generic functions: we present a higherorder parametricity theorem for datatype-generic operators. Copyright © 2009 ACM