Book Image

Learning Functional Programming in Go

By : Lex Sheehan
Book Image

Learning Functional Programming in Go

By: Lex Sheehan

Overview of this book

Lex Sheehan begins slowly, using easy-to-understand illustrations and working Go code to teach core functional programming (FP) principles such as referential transparency, laziness, recursion, currying, and chaining continuations. This book is a tutorial for programmers looking to learn FP and apply it to write better code. Lex guides readers from basic techniques to advanced topics in a logical, concise, and clear progression. The book is divided into four modules. The first module explains the functional style of programming: pure functional programming, manipulating collections, and using higher-order functions. In the second module, you will learn design patterns that you can use to build FP-style applications. In the next module, you will learn FP techniques that you can use to improve your API signatures, increase performance, and build better cloud-native applications. The last module covers Category Theory, Functors, Monoids, Monads, Type classes and Generics. By the end of the book, you will be adept at building applications the FP way.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Refactoring long parameter lists


Long parameter lists are typically considered code smell.

How long is too long? 

When we look at a parameter list and are unable to keep track of it all, then it's likely too long.

Note

Mind's limit found - 4 things at once

Working memory relates to the information we can pay attention to and grasp. Keeping our parameter lists short helps others easily understand our function's purpose.

https://www.livescience.com/2493-mind-limit-4.html

Four parameters or fewer is the sweet spot, but seven is the maximum.

Consider our telephone numbers. How many digits? Seven. For example: 867-5309

Why do you think the seven digits are separated into two sets of numbers with the largest set having four digits?

What's wrong with a function signature with more than seven parameters?

A function signature should not be so long and complicated that we are unable to comprehend it. Keep it simple. Use thoughtful, reasonable, and meaningful parameter names.

Ever noticed that functions with a...