Book Image

Hands-On Functional Programming with C++

By : Alexandru Bolboaca
Book Image

Hands-On Functional Programming with C++

By: Alexandru Bolboaca

Overview of this book

Functional programming enables you to divide your software into smaller, reusable components that are easy to write, debug, and maintain. Combined with the power of C++, you can develop scalable and functional applications for modern software requirements. This book will help you discover the functional features in C++ 17 and C++ 20 to build enterprise-level applications. Starting with the fundamental building blocks of functional programming and how to use them in C++, you’ll explore functions, currying, and lambdas. As you advance, you’ll learn how to improve cohesion and delve into test-driven development, which will enable you in designing better software. In addition to this, the book covers architectural patterns such as event sourcing to help you get to grips with the importance of immutability for data storage. You’ll even understand how to “think in functions” and implement design patterns in a functional way. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to write faster and cleaner production code in C++ with the help of functional programming.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Functional Building Blocks in C++
7
Section 2: Design with Functions
12
Section 3: Reaping the Benefits of Functional Programming
17
Section 4: The Present and Future of Functional Programming in C++

From data in to data out through functions

My computer programming education, and my focus as a programmer, was mostly on writing code rather than deeply understanding input and output data. This focus changed when I learned test-driven development (TDD), since this practice forces the programmer to start from inputs and outputs. Through applying an extreme form called TDD As If You Meant It, I gained a new appreciation for the core definition of a program—something that takes input data and returns output data.

It wasn't easy, though. My training was pushing me back to thinking of the things that form the program. But then, I realized that those things can just be pure functions. After all, any program can be written as follows:

  • A set of pure functions, as previously defined
  • A set of functions that interact with input/output (I/O)

If we reduce the program to the...