Haskell Applicative instance clarification

Question

I have trouble in understanding the following Applicative instance. Can someone explain me what Applicative do(in this case) and how it can be used? Or write it less obfuscated? Thanks!

newtype Parser a = P { getParser :: String -> Maybe (a, String) }

instance Applicative Parser where
    pure = success

    P p <*> P p' = P $ \s -> case p s of
        Just (f, s') -> fmap (applyToFirst f) $ p' s'
        Nothing      -> Nothing

{-|
    Applies a function to the first component of a pair.
-}
applyToFirst :: (a -> b) -> (a, c) -> (b, c)
applyToFirst f (x, y) = (f x, y)

Answer 1

Maybe the following equivalent code makes it more clear what's going on?

instance Applicative Parser where
    pure v = P (\s -> Just (v, s))

    P p <*> P p' = P $ \s -> case p s of
        Just (f, s') -> case p' s' of
          Just (v, s'') -> Just (f v, s'')
          Nothing -> Nothing
        Nothing      -> Nothing