Use case of kind polymorphism with AnyKind

Viewed 175

Given

trait Int                // proper type
trait List[A]            // 1st-order-kinded type constructor 
trait Functor[F[_]]      // higher-order-kinded type constructor taking type constructor
trait I[H[F[_]]]         // higher-order-kinded type constructor taking higher-order type constructor that takes 1st-order type constructor

we cannot pass type argument of different kind as compared to the kind of declared type parameter

scala> def f[F[_[_[_]]]] = 42                                                                                                                                
def f[F[_$1]] => Int

scala> f[I]                                                                                                                                                  
val res5: Int = 42

scala> f[Functor]                                                                                                                                            
1 |f[Functor]
  |  ^
  |  Type argument Functor does not conform to upper bound [_$1[_$2]] =>> Any

however we can declare the type parameter to be polymorphic in its kind via AnyKind

scala> def f[A <: AnyKind] = 42                                                                                                       
def f[A <: AnyKind] => Int

scala> f[Int]
val res10: Int = 42

scala> f[List]                                                                                                                                               
val res11: Int = 42

scala> f[Functor]                                                                                                                                            
val res12: Int = 42

scala> f[I]                                                                                                                                                  
val res13: Int = 42

What is the use case of AnyKind? What practical problem does it solve?

0 Answers
Related