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Doing week 04, watching "PPP 030403 - The EmulatorTrace Monad"

In the repl, having already imported as follows

>import Data.Char
>import Text.Read
>import Plutus.Trace.Emulator
>import Data.Default

If I enter ":t TraceConfig" I see

Prelude Data.Char Text.Read Plutus.Trace.Emulator Data.Default> :t TraceConfig
TraceConfig
  :: (Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent' -> Maybe String)
     -> GHC.IO.Handle.Types.Handle -> TraceConfig
Prelude Data.Char Text.Read Plutus.Trace.Emulator Data.Default>
Attempting to explore that, I enter (and get error) as follows: 
Prelude Data.Char Text.Read Plutus.Trace.Emulator Data.Default> :t Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'
 
:1:1: error:
    Not in scope:
      data constructor ‘Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'’
    No module named ‘Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent’ is imported.
 
 
Prelude Data.Char Text.Read Plutus.Trace.Emulator Data.Default> :i Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'
type Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent' :: *
data Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'
  = Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.ChainEvent Wallet.Emulator.Chain.ChainEvent
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.ClientEvent Wallet.Emulator.Wallet.Wallet
                                          Wallet.Emulator.NodeClient.NodeClientEvent
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.WalletEvent Wallet.Emulator.Wallet.Wallet
                                         Wallet.Emulator.Wallet.WalletEvent
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.ChainIndexEvent Wallet.Emulator.Wallet.Wallet
                                          plutus-chain-index-core-0.1.0.0:Plutus.ChainIndex.ChainIndexLog.ChainIndexLog
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.SchedulerEvent Plutus.Trace.Scheduler.SchedulerLog
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.InstanceEvent Plutus.Trace.Emulator.Types.ContractInstanceLog
  | Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.UserThreadEvent Plutus.Trace.Emulator.Types.UserThreadMsg
      -- Defined in ‘Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent’
instance Eq Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'
  -- Defined in ‘Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent’
instance Show Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent.EmulatorEvent'
  -- Defined in ‘Wallet.Emulator.MultiAgent’
Prelude Data.Char Text.Read Plutus.Trace.Emulator Data.Default>
My question is, why does ":i" (requesting info about) work, but ":t" (requesting merely the type, which is actually included in the info) does not? Tracking these multiple nestings of data structures is straining my brain.
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1 Answer 1

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Take into account that :t is for getting the type of a function, and EmulatorEvent' is not a function but a type. So, because it's a type you can use :i EmulatorEvent' but not :t EmulatorEvent'.

You can use :t with the constructors (they are functions) of EmulatorEvent', say :t ChainEvent.

enter image description here

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  • Part of me thinks this should "fail" gracefully, since the focus of the monad video was elegant failure.
    – XiTouch
    Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 1:43
  • What do you mean with fail gracefully? Can you elaborate?
    – kindofdev
    Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 10:40
  • @XiTouch, Do you consider that my answer is correct? I so, you might accept it and help others wiith the same question. Thanks!
    – kindofdev
    Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 19:49
  • 1
    your answer is helpful, correct, useful, the best offered, and the best ever likely to be offered so yes, it's "answered" and thank you. By "fail gracefully" I mean cabal should produce a message that is helpful and accurately informative, rather than basically "you screwed up, I won't help you, you should know better." For example, a message like "foo is not a type. Use {>:i foo} for info about foo".
    – XiTouch
    Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 20:52
  • 1
    @XiTouch, I agree that the message is not very helpful (in general Haskell error messages are not good), but this message doesn't come from cabal or Plutus. :t and :i is a ghci thing.
    – kindofdev
    Commented Feb 6, 2022 at 21:41

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