Proxy package:foundation

Proxy is a type that holds no data, but has a phantom parameter of arbitrary type (or even kind). Its use is to provide type information, even though there is no value available of that type (or it may be too costly to create one). Historically, Proxy :: Proxy a is a safer alternative to the undefined :: a idiom.

>>> Proxy :: Proxy (Void, Int -> Int)
Proxy

Proxy can even hold types of higher kinds,

>>> Proxy :: Proxy Either
Proxy

>>> Proxy :: Proxy Functor
Proxy

>>> Proxy :: Proxy complicatedStructure
Proxy

asProxyTypeOf is a type-restricted version of const. It is usually used as an infix operator, and its typing forces its first argument (which is usually overloaded) to have the same type as the tag of the second.

>>> import Data.Word

>>> :type asProxyTypeOf 123 (Proxy :: Proxy Word8)
asProxyTypeOf 123 (Proxy :: Proxy Word8) :: Word8

Note the lower-case proxy in the definition. This allows any type constructor with just one argument to be passed to the function, for example we could also write

>>> import Data.Word

>>> :type asProxyTypeOf 123 (Just (undefined :: Word8))
asProxyTypeOf 123 (Just (undefined :: Word8)) :: Word8