content: import Control.Monad
  import Data.List
  
  -- given n, "queens n" solves the n-queens problem, returning a list of all the
  -- safe arrangements. each solution is a list of the columns where the queens are
  -- located for each row
  queens :: Int -> [[Int]]
  queens n = map fst $ foldM oneMoreQueen ([],[1..n]) [1..n]  where
  
    -- foldM :: (Monad m) => (a -> b -> m a) -> a -> [b] -> m a
    -- foldM folds (from left to right) in the list monad, which is convenient for
    -- "nondeterminstically" finding "all possible solutions" of something. the
    -- initial value [] corresponds to the only safe arrangement of queens in 0 rows
  
    -- given a safe arrangement y of queens in the first i rows, and a list of
    -- possible choices, "oneMoreQueen y _" returns a list of all the safe
    -- arrangements of queens in the first (i+1) rows along with remaining choices
    oneMoreQueen (y,d) _ = [(x:y, delete x d) | x <- d, safe x]  where
  
      -- "safe x" tests whether a queen at column x is safe from previous queens
      safe x = and [x /= c + n && x /= c - n | (n,c) <- zip [1..] y]
  
  -- prints what the board looks like for a solution; with an extra newline
  printSolution y = do
       let n = length y
       mapM_ (\x -> putStrLn [if z == x then 'Q' else '.' | z <- [1..n]]) y
       putStrLn ""
  
  -- prints all the solutions for 6 queens
  main = mapM_ printSolution $ queens 6
  