For example the class of monoids is an equational theory for $$\mathbf{E}=\bigl\{(1\cdot x,\, x),\; (x\cdot 1,\, x),\; \bigl((x\cdot y)\cdot z,\, x\cdot (y\cdot z)\bigr)\bigr\}$$ i.e. all the algebras with two operations: one of arity 0 (the unit) and one of arity 2 (the multiplication), such that the $1$ is the unit for multiplication $\cdot $ and multiplication is associative. The class of commutative monoids is also an equational theory with one additional equation $(x\cdot y,\, y\cdot x)$. Groups, Boolean or Heyting algebras, lattices are also equational theories.

Coming back to free algebras: it turns out that the set of terms $\mathsf{T}^{(f_i)}(X)$ on a given set of variables $X$ has an algebra structure of type $(f_i)_{i=1,\dots,n}$: it is given by the inductive step in the definition of terms: if $t_i\in \mathsf{T}^{(f_i)}(X)$ for $i=1,\dots,j_i$ then $$ f_j^{\underline{\mathsf{T}^{(f_i)}(X)}}(t_1,\ldots,t_{j_i}) := f_j(t_1,\ldots,t_{j_i})\in \mathsf{T}(X) $$ Furthermore $\underline{\mathsf{T}^{(f_i)}(X)}$ is a free algebra over $X$ in the class of all algebras of the given type $(f_i)_{i=1,\dots,n}$. An extension of a map $h:X\rightarrow\underline{A}=(A,(f_i^{\underline{A}})_{i=1,\ldots,n})$ can be build inductively following the definition of terms and using the homomorphism property: $$ h(f_i(t_1,\ldots,f_{i_j})) := f_i^{\underline{A}}(h(t_1),\ldots,h(t_{i_j})) $$ The map $h$ is indeed a homomorphism: $$ \begin{array}{ll} h\bigl(f_i^{\underline{\mathsf{T}(X)}}(t_1,\ldots,t_{i_j})\bigr) & = h(f_i(t_1,\ldots, t_{i_j}) \\\\ & = f_i^{\underline{A}}(h(t_1),\ldots, h(t_{i_j})) \\\\ \end{array} $$ Note that the class of algebras of the same type is usually very broad, but this is the first approximation to build free algebras in an equational theory. This is just the equational theory for the empty set $\mathbf{E}$.

Let’s see this on an example and let us consider algebras of the same type as a monoid: with one nullary operation (unit $1$ or `mempty` if you like) and one 2-ary operation (multiplication / `mappend`). Let $X$ be a set of variables. Then $1$ is a valid term, and also if $t_1$ and $t_2$ are terms on $X$ then also $t_1\cdot t_2$ is a term, but also $t_1\cdot 1$ and $1\cdot t_2$ are valid and distinct terms. $\mathsf{T}(X)$ resembles a monoid but it isn't. It is not associative and the unitality condition is not valid since $t\cdot 1\neq t\neq 1\cdot t$ as terms. We still need a way to enforce the laws. But note that if you have a map $f:X\rightarrow M$ to a monoid $M$ which you'd like to extend to a homomorphism $\mathsf{T}(X)\rightarrow M$ that preserves $1$ (which is not the unit, yet) and multiplication (even though it is not associative), you don’t have much choice: $\mathsf{T}(X)\rightarrow M$: $t_1\cdot t_2$ must be mapped to $f(t_1)\cdot f(t_2)\in M$.

We need a tool to enforce term equations. For that one can use

Equivalence relations and congruences form complete lattices (partial ordered which have all suprema and minima, also infinite). If you have two equivalence relations (congruences) then their intersection (as subsets of $A^2$) is an equivalence relation (congruence).

The set of equations that defines the class of monoids generates a congruence relation on the term algebra $\underline{\mathsf{T}^{f_i}(X)}$ (i.e. an equivalence relation which is compatible with operations: $x_1\sim y_1$ and $x_2\sim y_2$ then $(x_1\cdot y_1) \sim (x_2\cdot y_2)$). One can define it as the smallest congruence relation which contains the set $\mathbf{E}$. Equivalence relation on a set $A$ is just a subset of the cartesian product $A\times A$ (which satisfy certain axioms), so it all fits together! One can describe this congruence more precisely, but we'll be happy with the fact that it exists. To show that, first one need to observe that intersection of congruences is a congruence, then the smallest congruence containing the set $\mathbf{E}$ is an intersection of all congruences that contain $\mathbf{E}$. This intersection is non empty since the set $A\times A$ is itself a congruence relation.

The key point now is that if we take the term algebra and take a quotient by the smallest congruence that contains all the pairs of terms which belong to the set $\mathbf{E}$ we will obtain a free algebra in the equational class defined by $\mathbf{E}$. We will leave the proof to a curious reader.

Free monoids

Let’s take a look on a free monoid that we can build this way. First let us consider the free algebra $\underline{\mathsf{T}(X)}$ for algebras of the same type as monoids (which include non associative monoids, which unit does not behave like a unit). And let $\sim$ be the smallest relation (congruence) that enforces $\mathsf{T}(X)/\sim$ to be a monoid.

Since monoids are associative every element in $\underline{\mathsf{T}(X)}/\sim$ can be represented as $x_1\cdot( x_2\cdot (x_3\cdot\ldots \cdot x_n))$ (where we group brackets to the right). Multiplication of $x_1\cdot( x_2\cdot (x_3\cdot\ldots \cdot x_n))$ and $y_1\cdot( y_2\cdot (y_3\cdot\ldots \cdot y_m))$ is just $x_1\cdot (x_2\cdot (x_3\cdot\ldots\cdot(x_n\cdot (y_1\cdot (y_2\cdot (y_3\cdot\ldots\;\cdot y_m)\ldots)$. In Haskell if you’d represent the set $X$ as a type $a$ then the free monoid is just the list type $[a]$ with multiplication: list concatenation and unit element: the empty list. Just think of

Free Monads

It turns out that monads in $\mathcal{Hask}$ are also an equational theory. Just the terms are higher kinded: $*\rightarrow*$ rather than $*$ as in monoids. The same construction of a free algebra works in the land of monads, but we need to look at them from another perspective. Let us first take a mathematical definition of view on monads.

Definition Monad

A monad is an (endo) functor `m` with two natural transformations:

class Monad m where
return :: a -> m a
join   :: m(m a) -> m a

which is unital and associative, i.e. the following law holds:

-- | associativity
join . join == join . fmap join
-- | unitality
join . return  = id = join . fmap return

These axioms are easier to understand as diagrams:

and

It is a basic lemma that this definition a monad is equivalent to what we are used to in Haskell:

Having `join` one defines `>>=` as

and the other way, having `>>=` then

Monoids in monoidal categories

Most examples of monoidal categories are not strict but are associative and unital up to a natural transformation. Think of $(A\times B)\times C\simeq A\times(B\times C)$ in $\mathcal{Set}$ (or any category with (finite) products, like $\mathcal{Hask}$). Let me just stress out that since $\otimes$ is a bifunctor, for any two maps $f:\;a_1\rightarrow b_1$ and $g:\;a_2\rightarrow b_2$ we have a map $f\otimes g: a_1\otimes a_2\rightarrow b_1\otimes b_2$, and moreover it behaves nicely with respect to composition: $(f_1\otimes g_1) \cdot (f_2\otimes g_2) = (f_1\cdot f_2)\otimes(g_1\cdot g_2)$ for composable pairs of arrows $f_1,\;f_2$ and $g_1,\;g_2$.

Now we can generalise a definition of a monoid to such categories:

The main point of this section is that these diagrams have exactly the same shape as associativity and unitality for monads. Indeed, a monoid in the category of endo-functors with functor composition as a monoidal product $\otimes$ and unit the identity functor is a monad. In category theory this category is strict monoidal, if you try to type this in Haskell you will end up with a non strict monoidal structure, where you will need to show penthagon equation.

These consideration suggest that we should be able to build a free monad using our algebraic approach to free algebras. And this is what we will follow in the next section.

Free monads in $\mathcal{Hask}$

Firstly, what should replace the set of generators $X$ in $\mathsf{T}(X)/\sim$? First we generalised from the category of sets $\mathcal{Set}$ to a monoidal category $(\mathcal{C},\otimes, 1)$: its clear that we just should pick an object of the category $\mathcal{C}$. Now since our category is the category of (endo) functors of $\mathcal{Hask}$ the set of generators is just a functor. So let's pick a functor `f`.

To get a free monad we need to decypher $\mathsf{T}(f)/\sim$ in the context of a monoid in a monoidal category of endofunctors. Note that here $\mathsf{T}(f)$ and $\mathsf{T}(f)/\sim$ are functors! To simplify the notation, let $\mathsf{Free}(f):=\mathsf{T}(f)/\sim$. So what is a term in this setting? It should be an expressions of a Haskell's type: $$ \begin{equation} \begin{array}{c} \bigl(\mathsf{Free}(f)\otimes\mathsf{Free}(f)\otimes\ldots\otimes \mathsf{Free}(f)\bigr)(a) \\\\ \quad\quad = \mathsf{Free}(f)\bigl(\mathsf{Free}(f)\bigl(\ldots (\mathsf{Free}(f)(a)\bigr)\ldots\bigr) \end{array} \end{equation} $$ In our setup the monoidal product $-\otimes-$ is just the functor composition, thus $\mathsf{Free}(f)(a)$ must be a type which (Haskell's) terms are of Haskell's types:

The monadic `join` will take something of type $\mathsf{Free}(f)\;(\mathsf{Free}(f)\;(a))$, e.g. $f^n(b)=f\;(f\;(\dots f\;(b)\dots)$ (by abusing the notation $f^n$) where $b$ has type $f^m(a)=(f\;(f\;(\dots(f\;(a)\dots)$ and return something of type $\mathsf{Free}(f)(a)$ and it should be quite clear how to do that: just take the obvious element of type $f^{n+m}(a)$. Altogether, this is a good trace of a monad, so let us translate this into a concrete Haskell type:

`Free f` is just a tree shaped by the functor `f`. This type indeed embraces all the terms of types: `a, f a, f (f a), ...` into a single type. Now the monad instance:

Before formulating the next result let's describe morphisms between monads. Let `m` and `n` be two monads then a natural transformation `f :: forall a. m a -> n a` is a homomorphism of monads iff the following two conditions are satisfied:

foldFree :: Functor f => (forall x. f x -> m x) -> (Free f a -> m a)

which restricts to an isomorphism of natural transformations on the left hand side and monad homomorphisms on the right hand side, and thus Free f is rightly colled free monad..

foldFree :: Functor f => (forall x. f x -> m x) -> (Free f a -> m a)
foldFree _ (Return a) = return a
foldFree f (Free ff)  = join $ f $ foldFree f <$> ff

It's inverse is:

liftF :: Functor f => (forall x. Free f x -> m x) -> (f a -> m a)
liftF f fa = f $ Free $ Return <$> fa

First let's check that foldFree f is a morhpism of monads:

foldFree f (Return a)
-- | by definition of (foldFree f)
= return a
  
foldFree f (join (Return a))
= foldFree f a
-- | by monad unitality axiom
= join $ return $ foldFree f $ a
-- | by definition of (foldFree f)
= join $ foldFree f (Return $ foldFree f a)
-- | by definition of functor instance of (Free f)
= join $ foldFree f $ fmap (foldFree f) $ Return a

foldFree f (join (Free ff)
-- | by definition of join for (Free f)
= foldFree f (Free $ fmap join $ ff)
-- | by definition of foldFree
= join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f) $ fmap join $ ff
= join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f . join) $ ff
-- | by induction hypothesis
= join $ f $ fmap (join . foldFree f . fmap (foldFree f)) $ ff
= join $ f $ fmap join $ fmap (foldFree f)
$ fmap (fmap (foldFree f)) $ ff
-- | f is natural transformation
= join $ fmap join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f)
$ fmap (fmap (foldFree f)) $ ff
-- | monad associativity
= join $ join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f)
$ fmap (fmap (foldFree f)) $ ff
-- | by definition of (foldFree f)
= join $ foldFree f $ Free
$ fmap (fmap (foldFree f)) $ ff
-- | by functor instance of (Free f)
= join $ foldFree f $ fmap (foldFree f) $ Free ff

And we have

foldFree . liftF :: (forall x. Free f x -> m x) -> (Free f a -> m a)
(foldFree . liftF $ f) (Return x)
-- ^ where f is a morphism of monads
= foldFree (liftF f) (Return x)
= return x
= f (Return x) -- since f is assumed to be a morphism of monads

(foldFree . liftF $ f) (Free ff)
-- ^ where f is a morphism of monads
= foldFree (liftF f) (Free ff)
= join $ liftF f $ fmap (foldFree (liftF f)) $ ff
-- | by induciton hypothesis
= join $ liftF f $ fmap f $ ff
-- | by definition of (liftF f)
= join $ f $ Free $ fmap Return $ fmap f $ ff 
-- | by functor instance of (Free f)
= join $ f $ fmap f $ Free (Return ff)
-- | since f is a morphism of monads
= f $ join $ Free (Return ff)
= f $ Free ff

liftF . foldFree :: (forall x. f x -> m x) -> (f a -> m a)
(liftF . foldFree $ f) fa
-- ^ where f is a natural transformation
= liftF (foldFree f) $ fa
-- | by definition of liftF
= (foldFree f) $ Free $ fmap Return $ fa
-- | by definition of (foldFree f)
= join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f)  $ fmap Return $ fa
= join $ f $ fmap (foldFree f . Return) $ fa
-- | by defintion of (foldFree f)
= join $ f $ fmap return  $ fa
-- | since f is a natural transformation
= join $ fmap return $ f fa
-- | by monad unitality axiom 
= f fa

foldFree corresponds to foldMap which is defined in a very similar way

foldMap :: Monoid m => (a -> m) -> [a] -> m
foldMap _ [] = mempty
foldMap f (a : as) = mappend (f a) (foldMap f as)

Note that foldMap is an isomorphism onto monoid homomorphisms with an inverse

g :: Monoid m => ([a] -> m) -> a -> m
g f a = f [a]

data Const a b = Const a

Then Free (Const a) is isomorphic to Either a

toEither :: Free (Const a) b -> Either a b
toEither (Return b) = Right b
toEither (Free (Const a)) = Left a
    
fromEither :: Either a b -> Free (Const a) b
fromEither (Right b) = Return b
fromEither (Left a)  = Free (Const a)

Since Either () is isomorphic with Maybe also Maybe is a free monad.

data Nat = Zero | Succ Nat

newtype Writer m a = Writer { runWriter :: (m, a) }
deriving Functor

toFree1 :: Free Identity a -> Writer Nat a
toFree1 (Return a)           = Writer (Zero, a)
toFree1 (Free (Identity fa)) = case toFree1 fa of
Writer (n, a) -> (Succ n, a)

fromFree1 :: (Nat, a) -> Free Identity a
fromFree1 (Writer (Zero,   a))
= Return a
fromFree1 (Writer (Succ n, a))
= Free (Identity (fromFree1 (Free1 n a)))

Note that Nat is the free monoid with one generator (Nat$\simeq$[()]) in the cateogry $\mathcal{Hask}$, and so is Free Identity but in the monoidal category of endofunctors of $\mathcal{Hask}$!

data F2 a = FX a | FY a
deriving Functor

. Then we have

data S2 = SX | SY

toFree2 :: Free F2 a -> Writer [S2] a
toFree2 (Return a) = Writer ([], a)
toFree2 (Free (FX fa)) = case toM2 fa of
Writer (m, a) -> Writer (SX : m, a)
toM2 (Free (FY fa)) = case toM2 fa of
Writer (m, a) -> Writer (SY : m, a)

fromFree2 :: Writer [S2] a -> Free F2 a
fromFree2 (Writer ([], a))
= Return a
fromFree2 (Writer (SX : xs, a))
= Free (FX (fromM2 $ Writer (xs, a)))
fromFree2 (Writer (SY : xs, a))
= Free (FY (fromM2 $ Writer (xs, a)))

toFree2 and fromFree2 are isomorphisms. I think you see the pattern: if you take a functor with $n$ constructors you will end up with a writer monad over a free monoid with $n$ generators. You might ask if all the monads are free then? The answer is no: take a non free monoid m then the monad Writer m is a non free monad. You can prove your self that the writer monad Writer m is free if and only if the monoid m is a free monoid in $\mathcal{Hask}$.

Artwork,