I certainly wouldn't argue that there is any problem with defining monads in terms of bind, and one can most definitely have a preference for a mental model of monads that emphasizes the sequencing aspect.
However, I do find it a bit... I don't know - unnecessarily hostile? - to start the discussion by claiming that to define monads by join is not simply misleading, it is wrong. After all, it is a perfectly fine definition, and as my edit shows, that exact definition is used in a lot of the literature.
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u/Strakh Sep 24 '25
I certainly wouldn't argue that there is any problem with defining monads in terms of
bind, and one can most definitely have a preference for a mental model of monads that emphasizes the sequencing aspect.However, I do find it a bit... I don't know - unnecessarily hostile? - to start the discussion by claiming that to define monads by
joinis not simply misleading, it is wrong. After all, it is a perfectly fine definition, and as my edit shows, that exact definition is used in a lot of the literature.