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)

Basic Type Classes and Their Usage

In the previous chapter, we discussed the idea of the type class and how type classes are a methodology for decoupling data from behavior. We have also seen how type classes can be treated as toolboxes that abstract away certain behavior. In essence, to a functional programmer, they are what a workshop is to a carpenter.

In the previous chapters, we also saw how type classes are motivated based on the practical needs that arise during functional programming. In this chapter, we will see how an entire library of classes for functional programming arise from practical needs. We'll take a look at one such library, and we will see how typical libraries are structured and how they can be used in practice.

The following are the topics that we will be covering in this chapter:

  • A motivation for organizing type classes into systems and libraries...