Book Image

Mastering Functional Programming

Book Image

Mastering Functional Programming

Overview of this book

Functional programming is a paradigm specifically designed to deal with the complexity of software development in large projects. It helps developers to keep track of the interdependencies in the code base and changes in its state in runtime. Mastering Functional Programming provides detailed coverage of how to apply the right abstractions to reduce code complexity, so that it is easy to read and understand. Complete with explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and self-assessment questions, the book begins by covering the basics such as what lambdas are and how to write declarative code with the help of functions. It then moves on to concepts such as pure functions and type classes, the problems they aim to solve, and how to use them in real-world scenarios. You’ll also explore some of the more advanced patterns in the world of functional programming such as monad transformers and Tagless Final. In the concluding chapters, you’ll be introduced to the actor model, which you can implement in modern functional languages, and delve into parallel programming. By the end of the book, you will be able to apply the concepts of functional programming and object-oriented programming (OOP)in order to build robust applications.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)

Effect Types - Abstracting Away Side Effects

In the previous chapter, we saw why side effects may be a source of trouble. We also briefly discussed effect types. Effect types are a technique of functional programming that allow for the abstraction of side effects.

In this chapter, we will have a look at how this works. We will learn the philosophy behind the pattern. Also, we will see how to sequentially combine side effects trapped in effect types.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Turning effects into data
  • The sequential combination of effect types with Monads – the map and flatMap functions