:: [a] -> Bool package:xmonad-contrib

Test whether the structure is empty. The default implementation is Left-associative and lazy in both the initial element and the accumulator. Thus optimised for structures where the first element can be accessed in constant time. Structures where this is not the case should have a non-default implementation.

Examples

Basic usage:

>>> null []
True

>>> null [1]
False

null is expected to terminate even for infinite structures. The default implementation terminates provided the structure is bounded on the left (there is a leftmost element).

>>> null [1..]
False

The genericLength function is an overloaded version of length. In particular, instead of returning an Int, it returns any type which is an instance of Num. It is, however, less efficient than length.

Examples

>>> genericLength [1, 2, 3] :: Int
3

>>> genericLength [1, 2, 3] :: Float
3.0

Users should take care to pick a return type that is wide enough to contain the full length of the list. If the width is insufficient, the overflow behaviour will depend on the (+) implementation in the selected Num instance. The following example overflows because the actual list length of 200 lies outside of the Int8 range of -128..127.

>>> genericLength [1..200] :: Int8
-56