A type class groups related functions and operators and allows for instances across the various datatypes which are members of the typeclass. Hence the function names within a type class are overloaded across the various type class members.
A typeclass declaration creates a type class. An instance declaration defines a datatype as belonging to a type class. A datatype may belong to zero or many type classes.
The Prelude package declares the following type classes:
| Bits | Types that can be converted to bit vectors and back. |
|---|---|
| Eq | Types on which equality is defined. |
| Literal | Types which can be created from integer literals. |
| RealLiteral | Types which can be created from real literals. |
| Arith | Types on which arithmetic operations are defined. |
| Ord | Types on which comparison operations are defined. |
| Bounded | Types with a finite range. |
| Bitwise | Types on which bitwise operations are defined. |
| BitReduction | Types on which bitwise operations on a single |
| BitExtend | Types on which extend operations are defined. |
| SaturatingArith | Types with functions to describe how overflow |
| Alias | Types which can be used interchangeably. |
| NumAlias | Types which give a new name to a numeric type. |
| FShow | Types which can convert a value to a Fmt |
| StringLiteral | Types which can be created around strings. |