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)

Summary

In this chapter, we introduced the idea of a type class, which is central to modern functional programming. We built up to this idea by introducing the Rich Wrapper pattern first, which facilitates type classes in Scala. A type class can be understood as a toolbox to process raw effect types. Another understanding of the Type Class pattern is that it is an injectable interface that you can inject into your classes to achieve polymorphism. Finally, we had a look at how type classes are used in languages other than Scala. In the next chapter, we will learn about the commonly used type classes and the libraries they are organized in.