semantic/prototype/Doubt/Free.swift

/// The free monad over `Syntax`.
///
/// This is “free” in the sense of “unconstrained” rather than “zero-cost”; it’s the monad obtained by taking a functor (in this case `Syntax`) and adding the minimum necessary details (the `Pure` case) to satisfy the monad laws.
///
/// `Syntax` is a non-recursive type parameterized by the type of its child nodes. Instantiating it to `Free` makes it recursive through the `Roll` case, and allows it to wrap values of type `B` through the `Pure` case.
///
/// In Doubt, this allows us to represent diffs as values of the `Free` monad obtained from `Syntax`, injecting `Patch` into the tree; or otherwise put, a diff is a tree of mutually-recursive `Free.Roll`/`Syntax` nodes with `Pure` nodes injecting the actual changes.
public enum Free<A, B> {
	case Pure(B)
	indirect case Roll(Syntax<Free, A>)
}