Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

i What You Need

Written by Massimo Carli

To follow along with this book, you’ll need the following:

IntelliJ IDEA Version 2022 or higher: This book uses IntelliJ IDEA Version
2022. While you can use other editors, this book shows examples using this
editor. You can download IntelliJ IDEA 2022 or higher from the JetBrains
website.
Android Studio Bumblebee or higher: There are a couple of chapters in
Section III that use an Android app for real-world examples. For those
chapters, this book expects you to open and build the project using Android
Studio. Download Android Studio Bumblebee (2021) or higher from the
Android developer website.

Kotlin 1.6: If you’re using IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio, the editor comes
bundled with Kotlin already. If you’re choosing another editor, you can
download Kotlin at KotlinLang.org. This book assumes you have basic
knowledge of Kotlin. If you’re unfamiliar with Kotlin, start with Kotlin
Apprentice.

A readiness to learn! This book assumes you’re here to learn some exciting
things. Dive right in . :]

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

ii Book Source Code & Forums

Written by Massimo Carli

Where to download the materials for this book

The materials for this book can be cloned or downloaded from the GitHub book
materials repository:

https://github.com/raywenderlich/fpk-materials/tree/editions/1.0

Forums
We’ve also set up an official forum for the book at
https://forums.raywenderlich.com/c/books/functional-programming-in-kotlin.
This is a great place to ask questions about the book or to submit any errors you
may find.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

iii Dedications
Written by Massimo Carli

“To my family who’s always here for me.”

— Massimo Carli

4
Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

iv About the Team

Written by Massimo Carli

About the Author

Massimo Carli is the author of this book.
He’s been working with Java since 1995 when he co-
founded the first Italian magazine about this
technology (http://www.mokabyte.it). After many
years of creating Java desktop and enterprise
applications, he started to work in the mobile world. In
2001, he wrote his first book about J2ME. After many
J2ME and Blackberry applications, he then started to
work with Android in 2008. The same year he wrote
the first Italian book about Android; a bestseller on
amazon.it. That was the first of a series of 12 books.
He’s also the author of Dagger by Tutorials. He worked
at Yahoo, Facebook, Spotify and he’s currently a
Software Engineer at WhatsApp. He’s a musical
theatre lover and a supporter of the soccer team
S.P.A.L.

About the Editors

Martyn Haigh is the tech editor of this book.
Martyn is a seasoned software engineer, currently
working at Meta. He started hacking on Android way
before it was cool, and has the scars to prove it. When
not working he loves coffee, traveling without a plan,
snowboarding, good food and his gorgeous family.

5
Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials About the Team

Emily Wydeven is the editor of this book.

Emily is an avid scavenger of typos and grammatical
errors. She has worked extensively in the tech
industry and was managing editor of an online tech
magazine for several years. She is a nerd for
technology, cats, medical history, and comic books
(among many other things). While her favorite comic
book characters are Deadpool and Squirrel Girl, the
character with whom Emily most closely identifies is
Nancy Whitehead.

Victoria Gonda is the final pass editor for

this book. They are a software engineer who primarily
works with Android. After having studied both dance
production and computer science, they focused their
career on software because of its potential to help
people in a meaningful way. This is visible in their
passion for accessibility. In their spare time, Victoria
enjoys playing board games and curling up with a
good book. You can connect with them on Twitter at
@TTGonda.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

v Introduction
Written by Massimo Carli

Functional programming is a paradigm for writing your code. It’s an alternative

to object-oriented programming that focuses more on functions and
composition than objects and classes. Rather than writing your code to say how
to do something, you declare what to do.

In many contexts, learning functional programming can feel like an academic

exercise. The point here is to show you how to use it in your everyday app
development work. In this book, you’ll take a hands-on approach to apply
functional programming in a practical way. You’ll build on knowledge you
already have while approaching these new topics.

You’ll take a pragmatic approach to learn how to make your code more:

Declarative

Robust
Error-proof

You’ll learn this and much more in Chapter 1. By the end of this book, you’ll
know how to apply pure functions, immutability and composition to simplify
your complex logic!

How to read this book

This book is written to be read linearly. That said, functional programming is a
vast topic, and chapters often call back to previous chapters. It’s expected that
you’ll end up rereading chapters as you progress through the book and learn
about related concepts.

This book is split into four main sections:

Section I: Functional Programming Fundamentals

This is the very start of your functional programming journey. Here, you’ll learn
what functional programming is and why it’s useful as well as its fundamental
concepts. Using hands-on examples every step of the way, you’ll discover pure
functions, higher-order functions, composition and so much more!

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Introduction

Section II: Data Types & Typeclasses

In this section, you’ll learn some of the types you see when using functional
programming. You’ll see concepts you likely already know, like “List” and
“Optional”, while discovering some of their very important properties as they
relate to functional programming.

Section III: Functional Programming in Practice

Time to put all that knowledge to work. In this section, you’ll use all the
principles you’ve learned so far to see the functional programming way for
handling errors and managing state changes. You’ll also meet some libraries
you can use in your projects to quickly introduce functional programming.

Appendix
This book has many exercises and challenges throughout. In this appendix,
you’ll find solutions to all exercises and challenges, along with additional
explanations about the answers.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

1 Why Functional
Programming
Written by Massimo Carli

When you approach a topic like functional programming, the most common
questions are:

Why do you need it?

What are the benefits of using it?

Is knowledge of all the theory supporting it necessary?

Isn’t object-oriented programming enough for writing good quality code?

In this chapter, you’ll answer these and other questions about functional
programming. But first, consider these three main points:

This might surprise you, but you don’t need to know functional
programming to write your code. Many professional engineers have been
writing code for years without using any functional programming
techniques, which is totally fine. But in this chapter, you’ll learn that when
you use functional programming, your code will be more readable, robust,
reusable and testable.
Functional programming isn’t all or nothing. Gang of Four design patterns
you use with the object-oriented approach are still completely valid.

Believe it or not, you’re probably already using some functional

programming tools. If you write your code in Kotlin, you’ve probably already
invoked map or flatMap on a List<T> . You’re also using Result<T> to
handle errors. Some functional programming concepts are already there,
and this is the approach most standard libraries follow.

But what exactly does “better code” mean? The answer is complex, but in this
first chapter, you’ll get a taste of some of the principles that are the pillars of
functional programming:

Declarative approach

Higher-order functions

Composition

Pure functions and testability

Exception handling

You’ll also have the chance to solve some fun and interesting exercises.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

Using a declarative approach

Readability is one of the most important properties that all your code should
have. The ability to return to your code after some time and still understand it is
vital. If your code is readable, that means other engineers should be able to
understand it. And that means they won’t bother you with questions you might
not even remember how to answer.

Moving from an imperative approach to a declarative one can drastically

improve the readability of your code. This is a book about real-world
programming, so an example can be helpful:

Suppose you have a list, List<String> . Some list elements are numbers, like
"123" . Others are normal String s, like "abc" . You want to implement a
function, stringSum , which returns the sum of all the values you can convert
from String to Int .

For instance, given the following input:

val input = listOf(

"123", "abc", "1ds", "987", "abdf", "1d3", "de1", "88", "101"
)

In this case, the String s you can convert to Int s are:

"123", "987", "88", "101"

And the sum would then be:

123 + 987 + 88 + 101 = 1299

You can create a first solution to the problem and write it in the Declarative.kt
file in this chapter’s material:

fun imperativeSum(list: List<String>): Int { // 1

var sum = 0 // 2
for (item in input) { // 3
try {
sum += item.toInt() // 4
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) { // 5
// Skip
}
}
return sum // 6
}
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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

In this code, you:

1. Define imperativeSum as a function accepting a List<String> as input and

returning an Int .

2. Initialize the initial value to 0 for the sum to return as the result.
3. Use an enhanced for to iterate over all the values in List<String> . item
contains the current value at every iteration.

4. Try to convert the String to Int using toInt , adding it to the sum if you
can.

5. If it isn’t possible to convert the String , you catch a

NumberFormatException without doing anything. This is very bad practice,
and it’s even considered an anti-pattern called “Head in the sand”.

6. Return the sum .

To test this solution, just add and run the following code using the list declared
above:

fun main() {
println("Sum ${imperativeSum(input)}")
}

As expected, you get:

Sum 1299

This is an imperative approach because you’re telling the program exactly what to
do and you’re doing this in its own language. Now, imagine you want to solve the
same problem, but explain it to a friend of yours in plain English. You’d just say:

1. Take a list of String s.

2. Filter out the ones that don’t contain numbers.

3. Convert the valid String s to their corresponding Int s.

4. Calculate their sum.

This logic is closer to how you think, and it’s much easier to explain and
remember. But how can you translate it into code?

Add this in the same Declarative.kt file:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

fun declarativeSum(list: List<String>): Int = list // 1

.filter(::isValidNumber) // 2
.map(String::toInt) // 3
.sum() // 4

In this code, you:

1. Define declarativeSum as a function accepting a List<String> as input

and returning an Int , exactly as imperativeSum did.

2. Use filter to remove the values that can’t convert to Int s from the
List<String> .

3. Convert the String you know is valid to an Int , getting a List<Int> .

4. Use the predefined sum of List<Int> .

This code won’t compile because you still need to define isValidNumber , which
is a function you can implement like this:

fun isValidNumber(str: String): Boolean =

try {
str.toInt()
true
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
false
}

Here, you just try to convert the String to Int and return true if successful
and false otherwise.

Now, add and run this code:

fun main() {
// ...
println("Sum ${declarativeSum(input)}")
}

Which gives you the same result:

Sum 1299

You might argue that in the declarative solution, you still use that ugly way of
testing whether String can be converted to Int . If String can be
converted, you also invoke toInt twice. You’ll come back to this later, but at
the moment, what’s important to note is that:

declarativeSum is written in a way that’s closer to how you think and not to
how the compiler thinks. If you read the code, it does exactly what you’d

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
describe in plain English. Filter out the String s you don’t want, convert
them to Int s and calculate the sum. The code is noticeably more readable.

Good code is also easier to change. Imagine you have to change the way you
filter String s. In imperativeSum , you’d need to add if-else s. In
declarativeSum , you just add a new filter , passing a function with the
new criteria.

Testability is a must in the modern software industry. How would you test
imperativeSum ? You’d create different unit tests, checking that the
function’s output for different input values is what you expect. This is true
for declarativeSum as well. But what you’d need to test is just
isValidNumber , as filter , map and sum have already been tested. You
really just need to test that the function isValidNumber does what you
expect.

Functional programming means programming with functions, and the

declarative approach allows you to do it very easily. In declarativeSum , this is
obvious because of the use of isValidNumber and String::Int , which you
pass as parameters of functions like map and filter . These are examples of a
particular type of function you call a higher-order function.

Exercise 1.1: Implement the function sumInRange , which sums the values in
a List<String> within a given interval. The signature is:

fun sumInRange(input: List<String>, range: IntRange): Int

Give it a try, and check your answer with the solution in Appendix A.

Higher-order functions
In this chapter’s introduction, you learned that the functions map and
flatMap — which you’re probably already using — are implementations of
some important functional programming concepts. In Chapter 11, “Functors”,
you’ll learn about map , and in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, you’ll
learn about one of the most interesting concepts: monads. Monads provide
implementations for the flatMap function.

At this stage, it’s important to note how map and flatMap are examples of a
specific type of function: They both accept other functions as input parameters.
Functions accepting other functions as input parameters — or returning
functions as return values — are called higher-order functions. This is one of
the most significant concepts in functional programming. In Chapter 5,

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
“Higher-Order Functions”, you’ll learn all about them and their relationship
with the declarative approach.

As a very simple example, create a function called times that runs a given
function a specific number of times. Open HigherOrder.kt and add the
following code:

fun main() {
3.times { // 1
println("Hello") // 2
}
}

This code doesn’t compile yet, but here, you:

1. Invoke times as an extension function for the Int type. In this case, you
invoked it on 3 .

2. Pass a lambda containing a simple println with the “Hello” message.

Running this code, you’d expect the following output:

Hello
Hello
Hello

The code prints the “Hello” message three times. Of course, to make the times
function useful, you should make it work for all code you want to repeat. This is
basically a function accepting a lambda that, in this case, is a function of type
() -> Unit .

Note: The previous sentence contains some important concepts, like function
type and lambda, you might not be familiar with yet. Don’t worry — you’ll come
to understand these as you work your way through this book.

times is a simple example of a higher-order function because it accepts

another function as input. A possible implementation is the following, which
you should add to HigherOrder.kt:

fun Int.times(fn: () -> Unit) { // 1

for (i in 1..this) { // 2
fn() // 3
}
}

In this code, you:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

1. Define times as an extension function for Int . You also define a single
parameter fn of type () -> Unit , which is the type of any function
without input parameters and returning Unit .

2. Use a for loop to count the number of times related to the receiver.
3. Invoke the function fn you pass in input.

Now, you can run main , resulting in exactly what you expect as output: “Hello”
printed three times.

Like it or not, this implementation works, but it’s not very, ehm, functional. The
IntRange type provides the forEach function, which is also a higher-order
function accepting a function of a slightly different type as input. Just replace
the previous code with the following:

fun Int.times(fn: () -> Unit) =

(1..this).forEach { fn() }

forEach iterates over an Iterable<T> , invoking the function you pass as a

parameter using the current value in input. In the previous case, you don’t use
that parameter, but you might’ve written:

fun Int.times(fn: () -> Unit) =

(1..this).forEach { _ -> fn() } // HERE

As mentioned, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this in Chapter 5,
“Higher-Order Functions”.

Exercise 1.2: Implement chrono , which accepts a function of type () ->

Unit as input and returns the time spent to run it. The signature is:

fun chrono(fn: () -> Unit): Long

Give it a try, and check your answer with the solution in Appendix A.

Composition
As mentioned, functional programming means programming using functions in
the same way that object-oriented programming means programming with
objects. A question without an obvious answer could be: Why do you actually
need functions? In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, and Chapter 3,

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
“Functional Programming Concepts”, you’ll have a very rigorous explanation
using category theory. For the moment, think of functions as the unit of logic
you can compose to create a program. Decomposing a problem into smaller
subproblems to better understand them is something humans do every day.
Once you’ve decomposed your problem in functions, you need to put them all
together and compose them in the system you’ve designed.

Note: This also happens with objects. You use the classes as a way to model
the different components that collaborate to achieve a specific task.

The most important part of functional programming involves composition.

Open Composition.kt in this chapter’s material and add the following code:

fun double(x: Int): Int = 2 * x // 1

fun square(x: Int): Int = x * x // 2

These are two very simple functions:

1. double returns the double of the Int value in input.

2. square returns the square of the Int value in input.

Both the functions map Int s to Int s, and you can represent them as
functions of type (Int) -> Int .

Composing double with square means invoking the first function and then
passing the result as input for the second. In code, this is:

fun main() {
val result = double(square(10)) // HERE
println(result)
}

Here, you invoke square by passing 10 in input. Then, you use the result to
invoke double . In that case, the output will be:

200

The question at this point is different. Because square and double are both
functions of type (Int) -> Int , you can assume that a third function exists:
squareAndDouble . It’s of the same type, (Int) -> Int , and does the same as
invoking square first and then double . Here, the input value doesn’t matter

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
anymore. You’re thinking in terms of functions. A simple — and obvious — way
to implement that function is the following:

fun squareAndDouble(x: Int) = double(square(x))

This isn’t very interesting, though. In the previous section, you learned what a
higher-order function is. So now, the question is: Can you implement a higher-
order function that, given two functions as input, returns a third function that’s
the composition of the two? Yes, you can! Of course, the two functions need to
be compatible, meaning the output type of the first needs to be compatible with
the input type of the second. Besides that, you want a new function that creates
the composition of the other two functions. In Chapter 8, “Composition”, you’ll
learn all about this. At the moment — spoiler alert — you can define compose like
the following, which you should add in Composition.kt:

infix fun <A, B, C> ((A) -> B).compose(

g: (B) -> C
): (A) -> C = { a ->
g(this(a))
}

Note: Don’t worry if you don’t understand the previous definition. Teaching
how to write functions like this is the goal of the following chapters! :]

Now, update main like this:

fun main() {
// ...
val squareAndDouble = ::square compose ::double // HERE
println(squareAndDouble(10))
}

squareAndDouble is a function that’s the composition of square and double .

You can simply invoke it like any other function. Also note that compose works
for every pair of functions that are composable, which means the output of the
first must be a type that’s compatible with the input of the second.

That’s nice, but do you really need a compose function? Why not just invoke
functions the same way you did with square and double ? The answer is that
functional programming is magic. In this book, you’ll learn the main concepts of
category theory. You’ll also prove that using a functional programming
approach will make your code more robust, reusable and even more efficient.

Unfortunately, not all functions are like double and square . Other functions

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
aren’t so easy to compose and are impure. Functional programming is about
pure functions. But what are pure functions, and why are they so important?

Pure functions and testability

In Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you’ll learn all about pure
functions.

Just to give you an idea, they’re functions whose work only depends on the
input parameter, and the function doesn’t change the world outside the
function itself when invoked. double and square are pure functions. They
return a value that depends only on the input value and nothing else. The
following, which you can add in Pure.kt, isn’t pure:

var count = 0 // 1

fun impure(value: Int): Int { // 2

count++ // 3
return value + count // 4
}

This is impure for different reasons. Here, you:

1. Define a global variable count .

2. Create impure as a function of type (Int) -> Int .

3. Increment count .
4. Use count and the input parameter value to calculate the value to return.

impure isn’t pure because the output doesn’t depend only on the input
parameter. Invoking impure multiple times with the same input parameter will
return different values.

Another example of an impure function is the following, which you can add to
the same file:

fun addOneAndLog(x: Int): Int { // 1

val result = x + 1 // 2
println("New Value is $result") // 3
return result // 4
}

In this case, you:

1. Define addOneAndLog of type (Int) -> Int , which just returns the value it
gets in input and adds 1 .

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
2. Calculate the incremented value and store it in result .
3. Use println to write a log message on the standard output.

4. Return the result .

If you invoke addOneAndLog multiple times with the same value in input, you’ll
always get the same value in output. Unfortunately, addOneAndLog isn’t pure
because the println changes the state of the world outside the function itself.
This is a typical example of a side effect. Impure functions are difficult to test
because you need to somehow replicate — using mocks or fakes — the external
world, which impure functions change. In the case of addOneAndLog , you’d
need to abstract the standard output, introducing complexity.

Now, you have bad news and good news. The bad news is that all the great
principles of functional programming you’ll learn in this book are only valid for
pure functions. The good news is that you’ll also learn how to make impure
functions pure.

How can you make addOneAndLog pure, then? A classic way is to move the
effect to become part of the result type. Replace the existing addOneAndLog
implementation with the following:

fun addOneAndLog(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> { // 1

val result = x + 1
return result to "New Value is $result" // 2
}

The changes you made from the previous implementation are:

1. Making the return type Pair<Int, String> instead of Int .

2. Returning a Pair of the result and the message you were previously
printing.

Now, addOneAndLog is a function of type (Int) -> Pair<Int, String> . More

importantly, it’s now pure because the output only depends on the value in
input, and it doesn’t produce any side effects. Yes, the responsibility of printing
the log will be that of some other component, but now addOneAndLog is pure,
and you’ll be able to apply all the beautiful concepts you’ll learn in this book.

But, there’s a “but”…

The first implementation of addOneAndLog had type (Int) -> Int . Now, the
type is (Int) -> Pair<Int, String> . What happens if you need to compose
addOneAndLog with itself or another function accepting an Int in input?
Adding the effect as part of the result type fixed purity but broke composition.
But functional programming is all about composition, and it must have a

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

solution for this as well. Yes! The solution exists and is called a monad! In
Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, you’ll learn everything you need to know
about monads, solving not just the problem of addOneAndLog , but all the
problems related to the composition of functions like that.

Exception handling
Exceptions are a typical example of side effects. As an example you should be
familiar with, open ExceptionHandling.kt and add the following code:

fun strToInt(str: String): Int = str.toInt()

As you know, this function throws a NumberFormatException if the String

you pass as a parameter doesn’t contain an Int .

Even if it’s not visible in the function’s signature, the exception is a side effect
because it changes the world outside the function. Then, strToInt isn’t pure.
In the previous section, you already learned one way to make this function
pure: Move the effect as part of the return type. Here, you have different
options. The simplest is the one you get with the following code:

fun strToIntOrNull(str: String): Int? = // 1

try {
str.toInt() // 2
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
null // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define strToIntOrNull , which now has the optional type Int? as its
return type.

2. Try to convert the String to Int , but do it in a try block.

3. Return null in the case of NumberFormatException .

This function now is pure. You might argue that the try/catch is still there, so
it’s the exception. It’s crucial to understand that functional programming
doesn’t mean removing side effects completely, but it means being able to control
them. strToIntOrNull now returns the same output for the same input, and it
doesn’t change anything outside the context of the function.

In the case of strToInt , the information you want to bring outside is minimal:
You just want to know if you have an Int value or not. In another case, you
might need more information like, for instance, what specific exception has

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming
been thrown. A possible, idiomatic Kotlin alternative is the following:

fun strToIntResult(str: String): Result<Int> =

try {
Result.success(str.toInt())
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
Result.failure(nfe)
}

Here, you encapsulate the Int value or the error in a Result<Int> .

You’ll learn all about error handling in a functional way in Chapter 14, “Error
Handling With Functional Programming”. What’s important now is
understanding how even the existing Kotlin Result<T> is there as a
consequence of the application of some fundamental functional programming
concepts a model engineer should know to create high-quality code.

Key points
While object-oriented programming means programming with objects,
functional programming means programming with functions.
You decompose a problem into many subproblems, which you model with
functions.

Higher-order functions accept other functions as input or return other

functions as return values.

Category theory is the theory of composition, and you use it to understand

how to compose your functions in a working program.
A pure function’s output value depends only on its input parameters, and it
doesn’t have any side effects.

A side effect is something that a function does to the external world. This
can be a log in the standard output or changing the value of a global variable.
Functional programming works for pure functions, but it also provides the
tools to transform impure functions into pure ones.

You can make an impure function pure by moving the effects to make them
part of the return value.

Functional programming is all about composition.

Error handling is a typical case of side effects, and Kotlin gives you the tools
to handle them in a functional way.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 1: Why Functional Programming

Where to go from here?

Great! In this chapter, you had the chance to taste what functional programming
means. In this book, you’ll learn much more using both a pragmatic method
and a theoretical and rigorous one. You’ll also have the chance to see where
these concepts are already used. You’ll be able to recognize them and apply all
the magic only math can achieve. You’ve got a lot of learning ahead of you!

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

2 Function Fundamentals
Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 1, “Why Functional Programming”, you learned that functional

programming means programming with functions in the same way that
object-oriented programming means programming with objects.

Objects and functions are very different beasts. Objects, at first sight, probably
look closer to what you see and interact with every day. Think of your car, for
instance. It has some properties like brand, color, engine and size. You use
property values to distinguish a Ferrari from a Fiat 500. When you write your
code, you model objects using classes. For instance, you define a Car class
like this:

class Car(
val brand: String,
val color: Color,
val engine: Engine,
val size: Int,
var speed: Int
) {

fun drive() {
// Driving code
}

fun accelerate() {
speed += 1
}
}

The state of an object is the set of its properties’ values. Objects also interact,
sending messages to each other. This interaction happens by invoking
something called methods.

You can interact with a Car instance by invoking the accelerate method to
increase its speed, which then changes its state. Classes allow you to define what
the methods are. The concept of a class is just the first tool you have to describe
your application in terms of objects. Many other concepts and tools help define
what object-oriented programming is, such as interface, inheritance,
polymorphism and aggregation.

But what about functions? Are functions also close to what you see and interact
with every day? What does it really mean to program with functions? Is there
something similar to the concept of a class with functional programming?

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Unfortunately, you can’t answer all these questions in a single chapter. To

understand it, you need to really understand what a function is, which requires
the knowledge of some fundamental concepts of category theory. This chapter
will give you that knowledge! What you’ll learn in this chapter will give you a
strong foundation for the rest of the book.

In this chapter, you’ll learn:

What category theory is.

How a category is related to the concept of a function.

The useful concepts of initial and terminal objects, using logic as a fun
example of a category.

What the relationship is between category theory and functional

programming.

What the concept of type has to do with sets.

Where the Kotlin Nothing and Unit types come from.

What it means for an object to be an element of a set in the context of

category theory, and therefore, functional programming.

These are all very theoretical concepts, but you’ll see some practical examples
using the Kotlin language.

Note: If you’re not confident with Kotlin, our Kotlin Apprentice book is the best
place to start.

Note: The concepts in this chapter might look theoretical and, sometimes, not
very intuitive. Don’t worry! It’s perfectly normal, and even expected, to read
this chapter multiple times to digest the content that will help you to better
understand many other concepts of functional programming in this book.

What is a function?
You might already have an initial idea about what a function is from the math
you learned in school. You may remember that a function is a way to describe
how to calculate an output given an input value, like in Figure 2.1:

x y = f(x) y

Figure 2.1: A mathematical function

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

For instance, the function:

fun twice(x: Int) = 2 * x

Returns an output value that’s double the value you pass in as an input. That’s a
representation of a mathematical function.

In the context of functional programming, a function is something more

abstract that’s not necessarily related to computation. A function is a way to map
some values to others. The bunch of all the values a function accepts as input is
the domain of the function. The bunch of all the values the function returns as
output is the range of the function. Domain and range can also be the same
bunch of values.

Note: It’s important at this point to emphasize the term bunch of values. This
is because the term set, as you’ll see soon, is something that gives some kind
of rules to that bunch. For instance, a set can include an object or not, and it
can’t include the same object more than once.

Figure 2.2 better represents what a function is:

f(a)

f(b)

a’
f(c)

b’

Domain Range

Figure 2.2: A function definition

For each value in the domain, there’s one and only one value in the range. This
implies that the function always returns a value for inputs in its domain.
The function f can map multiple values in the domain to the same value in
the range.

By definition, the function has meaning for each value in the domain, as
you’ll see later. This might seem obvious, but it’s a crucial concept to
understand.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Exercise 2.1: Can you write an example of a function mapping distinct values
in the domain to non-distinct values in the range, like f(b) and f(c) in
Figure 2.2?

Give it a try, and afterward, check the challenge project for a solution to see
how you did. You can find hints and an explanation of the solution in
Appendix B, “Chapter 2 Exercise & Challenge Solutions”.

Functions like twice mapping distinct values in the domain to distinct values
in the range have some interesting properties. As you’ll see later, the most
significant is that they have an inverse function. An inverse function maps the
values in the range back to the domain.

Exercise 2.2: Can you write the inverse function of twice ? What are the
domain and range for the inverse function? Check out the challenge project
and Appendix B for the solution.

Another simple and useful exercise is to define the domain and range for
twice in the previous example:

fun twice(x: Int) = 2 * x

In that case, you have what’s shown in Figure 2.3:

f(0)

f(1)
0 0

f(-2)
1 2

-2 -4

Int Int

Figure 2.3: Twice domain and range

In this exercise, you’ve done something that’s not as obvious as it appears

because you used the set of all the Int values as the domain and range for the
function f . But what is Int ? What’s the relation of the Int type with the
bunch of things mentioned earlier?

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

To really understand all this, it’s time to introduce category theory.

Note: If you’ve heard category theory is intimidating, don’t be scared. This

book is here to help. :] Soon, you’ll realize how understanding what a category
is will help you assimilate many critical concepts about functional
programming. Again, feel free to read this chapter multiple times to make
this process easier. This book will go over only what you really need, and it’ll
be a lot of unexpected fun.

Introduction to category theory

Category theory is one of the most abstract branches of mathematics, and it’s
essential here because programming is one of its main applications. It’s also
important to start with the definition of category.

A category is a bunch of objects with connections between them called

morphisms. Categories follow three rules:

Composition

Associativity
Identity

You can picture an object like a dot with no properties and no further way to be
decomposed. A morphism is an arrow between two objects like in Figure 2.4:

f1

a b
f2

Figure 2.4: Objects and morphisms

In this image, you:

Have objects named a , b and c .

Define two morphisms between a and b and one morphism between b

and c .

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Assign the names f1 and f2 to the morphisms between a and b and the
name g to the morphism between b and c .

Objects and morphisms are the primitive tools you can use to describe every
possible concept about category theory.

As mentioned earlier, objects and morphisms need to follow some rules that will
lead you to other fundamental functional programming concepts. It’s time to
study them in detail.

Composition
A bunch of objects and arrows don’t make a category; they also need to follow
some important rules, and composition is probably the most significant.

Look at Figure 2.5:

g°f

f g

a b c

Figure 2.5: Composition

In this image, you have:

The objects a , b and c .

The morphism f from a to b .

The morphism g from b to c .

The composition rule says that for every object a , b and c and every
morphism f and g , as shown in Figure 2.5, the category must have a
morphism from a to c . You represent this as g◦f between a and c ,
which is the composition of f and g . You read g◦f as “g after f”, where the
small circle ◦ represents the composition.

For a Kotlin example, if f is your twice and g is triple , then g◦f might
look like:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
val `g◦f`: (Int) -> Int = { triple(twice(it)) }

Note: An analogy with LEGO® makes the definition of the composition

property for a category easier to understand. Imagine an object of a category
is a LEGO® brick. Being able to attach a LEGO® brick to another is equivalent
to having a morphism between them. In this case, composition means you
can attach one LEGO® to another to get another LEGO® component that is the
composition of the two bricks.

Associativity
The associativity rule is similar to the one you studied back in school about
addition or multiplication. Look at the following image:

(h°g)°f

h°g
f g h

a b c d

g°f
h°(g°f)

Figure 2.6: Associativity

Here, you have:

The objects a , b , c and d .

The morphism f from a to b .

The morphism g from b to c .

The morphism h from c to d .

The associativity rule says that for every object a , b , c and d and
morphism f , g and h (like in Figure 2.6), the following equivalence must be
true:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Figure 2.7: Associativity equivalence. (h◦g)◦f = h◦(g◦f)

This means that if you do the composition of f , g and h , it doesn’t matter if

you first compose f to g or g to h . Looking at Figure 2.6, this also means
that, with those objects and morphisms, there must be a morphism from a to
d , which you can obtain by either composing f with h◦g or composing g◦f
with h .

Continuing with the previous example and quadrupling h , this means:

twice(triple(quadruple(x))) == quadruple(twice(triple(x)))

Because these are equal, it conforms to associativity.

Note: The LEGO® analogy helps simplify the understanding of the

associativity property too. Imagine you have three different LEGO® bricks you
call A, B and C. If you attach A and B first and then C, you get a component
that is exactly the same as what you’d get by attaching B and C first and then
A. What you get is basically another LEGO® component you can use like the
others.

Identity
Identity is the last rule, but it’s no less important than the other two. Consider
the smiling diagram in Figure 2.8:

ia ib

a b

Figure 2.8: Identity

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

The identity property says that every object in a category must have at least one
morphism to itself. This is why, in Figure 2.8, you have:

The objects a and b .

A morphism f from a to b .
A morphism ia from a to itself.

A morphism ib from b to itself.

This must be true for all the objects in the category.

An example of ia might be timesOne or { x * 1 } :

timesOne(x) == x

It’s interesting to use the identity with the previous properties. You can easily
prove that, in a category, the following equivalence is true:

Figure 2.9: Identity, composition and associativity. (ib◦f)◦ia = ib◦(f◦ia)

Note: Understanding why a category needs identity might not be very

intuitive, and there’s not a plausible way to visualize identities using LEGO®.
If a morphism in this analogy means to attach a LEGO® brick to another, it’s
quite difficult to represent how to attach a piece to itself. On the other hand,
you could think of the inverse of attaching two LEGO® pieces as the action of
detaching them. In this case, the composition of attaching and detaching
leads you to the initial piece.

The concept of isomorphism at the end of this chapter will probably help, but
don’t worry — everything will be clearer when you get to Chapter 11,
“Functors”, and Chapter 12, “Monoids & Semigroups”.

Now that you know what a category is, it’s time for some fun — you’ll give some
meaning to objects and morphisms. Always remember that what’s true for a
category will also be true when you give objects and morphisms specific
meanings.

Category and logic

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
As mentioned, a category is a very abstract concept, but giving objects and
morphisms some specific meanings makes everything closer to what you use
every day.

In the context of logic, assume that objects are propositions and morphisms
are entailments. Consider, then, Figure 2.10:

A B C

Figure 2.10: Category and logic

Using the symbol ⇒ to represent entailment, you have:

The propositions A , B and C .

An arrow from A to B , meaning that A ⇒ B .

Another arrow from B to C , meaning that B ⇒ C .

To prove it’s a category, you need to verify the three important rules:

Composition

Associativity

Identity

It’s time to have some fun!

Proving composition
As you know, composition is the property that allows you to compose a
morphism from A to B and one from B to C into a single morphism from
A to C . In this case, if A ⇒ B and B ⇒ C , is it also true that A ⇒ C ? Try
to use the following propositions:

A = Alice drives to work every day.

B = Alice has a driver’s license.

C = Alice is at least 18 years old.

The fact that Alice drives to work every day entails she has a driver’s license.
That Alice has a driver’s license entails she’s at least 18. You then need to prove
the following: Is the fact that Alice drives to work every day entailing she’s at

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
least 18 years old? This is true, and this proves composition.

Note: In this example, you’re assuming Alice is in a place where you need to
be 18 years old to drive a car and vote. You might also object that this works
just for the previous propositions. In this case, you have two options: You can
just believe it or find a case where this isn’t true. :]

Proving associativity
To prove associativity, you need a new proposition like:

D = Alice can vote.

In this case, referring to Figure 2.10, you can use the following entailments:

f = A ⇒ B = Alice drives to work every day. ⇒ Alice has a driver’s license.

g = B ⇒ C = Alice has a driver’s license. ⇒ Alice is at least 18 years old.

h = C ⇒ D = Alice is at least 18 years old. ⇒ Alice can vote.

From the definition of category, to prove associativity, you need to prove that:

(h◦g)◦f = h◦(g◦f)

You can break it down like this:

(h◦g) = Alice has a driver’s license. ⇒ Alice can vote.

(g◦f) = Alice drives to work every day. ⇒ Alice is at least 18 years old.

(h◦g)◦f = Alice drives to work every day. ⇒ Alice can vote.

h◦(g◦f) = Alice drives to work every day. ⇒ Alice can vote.

Which proves the hypothesis.

Proving identity
The final property to prove is very interesting and funny. In logic, you basically
need to prove that for every proposition A , you can say that A ⇒ A . This is
equivalent to saying that:

Alice has a driver’s license. ⇒ Alice has a driver’s license.

This actually has a name: tautology. :] This proves that logic is a category, and
you’ll use it to introduce two more crucial concepts: initial and terminal
objects.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Category theory and the real world

Before introducing initial and terminal objects, it’s valuable to stop for a second
and think about an important aspect of category theory. In the introduction for
this chapter, you read that object-oriented programming allows you to model
your code using objects, which might seem closer to what you see and interact
with every day. Can you say the same thing about a category?

A category has composition as a fundamental property. You can even say that
category theory is the science of composition. Isn’t decomposing concepts into
smaller ones what you do every day? Humans’ brains continuously decompose
concepts to make them simpler to understand and memorize, and then
recompose them. This might seem somewhat philosophical, but it’s proof that
category theory isn’t something completely unrelated to reality.

At this point, an example might help. Suppose somebody asks you to solve the
following addition problem:

7 + 10

Of course, you answer 17 . When you do that, are you getting the result from
your memory, or is your brain actually computing the addition of 7 with 10 ?
Frankly, it could be either. With this simple addition, your brain has probably
memorized the answer somewhere and is giving it as the answer.

Now, imagine somebody asks you to solve the following subtraction problem:

42 - 8

In this case, you probably don’t have the answer memorized, so your brain
needs to do some “computation”. Because it’s not an obvious answer, your brain
might do something like this:

42 - 2 = 40
40 - (8-2) = 40 - 6 = 34

Putting it all together, you might mentally compute:

42 - 2 - (8 - 2) = 34

Your brain has decomposed the simple subtraction into multiple operations that
are probably easier to calculate and then composed the results back into a

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
single value. This is an example of composition!

Initial and terminal objects

You already learned that category theory explains everything in terms of objects
and morphisms. Not all the objects and morphisms are the same, though. For
instance, not all the objects are somehow connected with a morphism. For
logic, this means that a proposition doesn’t necessarily entail all the others. For
the same reason, not all the propositions are entailments of another.

Note: Using the LEGO® analogy, you represent this concept saying that not all
the LEGO® pieces can be attached to any other piece.

To understand why this is, you need the definition of uniqueness. In this
context, you can say that the morphism f between the objects A and B is
unique if any other morphism g between the same objects cannot be different
from f . In short, if this happens, f and g must be equal.

With this definition in mind, you can define an initial object as an object with a
unique outgoing morphism to every other object in the category. A terminal object is
an object with a unique incoming morphism from any other object. Figure 2.11 gives
an idea of these concepts:

terminal

initial

Figure 2.11: Initial and terminal objects

Not all categories have initial and terminal objects but, if they do, they are
unique. In logic, the initial object has the name False and the terminal object
True.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
Category properties have funny implications on these objects:

Each object has at least one identity morphism. This means that what is false
is false, and what is true is true.

Because there’s always a morphism starting from the initial object to any
other objects, there’s also a morphism from the initial object to the terminal
one. This means that a false assumption entails everything. Therefore, “Tom
has wings” entails “Tom can fly”, is a counterfactual implication.

You’re probably wondering what all this has to do with functional programming
— and Kotlin.

The good news is that anything you see that’s true for a generic category is also true for
a specific one. What’s true in logic is also true in programming when you give a
specific meaning to objects and morphisms. It’s now time to be more pragmatic
and start studying the most critical category for an engineer — spoiler alert — the
category of types and functions.

Exercise 2.3: Can you prove that using Set s as objects and “is a subset of” as
morphisms results in a category? In other words, a morphism from set A to
set B would mean that A is a subset of B . In that case, what are the initial
and terminal objects?

Don’t forget to check out Appendix B for hints and solutions.

Category of types and functions

So far, you’ve learned what a category is, and you also had some fun with the
category of propositions and entailments. That allowed you to introduce the
properties of a category and define some significant concepts like initial and
terminal objects. That’s all good — but this is a book about programming, and
you need something more pragmatic. You basically need to answer the following
questions:

What happens if objects are types and morphisms are functions?

What’s the meaning of composition, associativity and identity in the category

of types and functions?

What’s the meaning of initial and terminal objects?

In the following paragraphs, you’ll answer these questions using the Kotlin
language, and you’ll have some revelations about some of the most important
Kotlin standard types. Here, using Kotlin, you’ll:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
Prove that using types as objects and functions as morphisms, you define a
category.
See what initial and terminal objects mean when dealing with types and
functions.

Find out where the Kotlin types Unit and Nothing come from.

As mentioned, you’ll do this using Kotlin.

Do types and functions de ne a category?

As a first step, you need to prove that by using types as objects and functions as
morphisms, what you get is actually a category. You need to prove:

Composition

Associativity

Identity

Proving each of the category properties is also a good exercise to review some
interesting Kotlin concepts.

In the material for this chapter, you’ll find the starter project with some empty
files you’ll fill in along the way. Start by opening the Aliases.kt file and write the
following definition:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

This is a type alias that represents all the functions from a type A to B . If A
and B are two objects of the category of types and functions, Fun<A, B> is a
morphism.

This simple definition allows you to prove each of the properties for a category.

Proving composition
To prove composition, you need to prove that for any function f from A to
B and any function g from B to C , there’s an equivalent function: g◦f
from A to C , which is the composition of the two.

This is nothing new to you because you’re probably composing functions every
day. Consider, for instance, the following code you can write in the Main.kt file:

fun twice(a: Int): Int = a * 2 // 1

fun format(b: Int): String = "Result is $b" // 2

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

These are very simple functions that:

1. Double the Int value it gets as input. The type of twice is Fun<Int, Int> .

2. Format the Int it gets as input to a String . The type is Fun<Int,

String> .

You can compose twice and format in a very simple way, like this:

fun formatAfterTwice(x: Int) = format(twice(x))

You can prove this by adding the formatAfterTwice definition in the Main.kt
file along with the following:

fun main() {
println(format(twice(37)))
println(formatAfterTwice(37))
}

When you run this code, you get the following output:

Result is 74
Result is 74

This is just an example, but proving that this works for any type and function
requires something more.

Open the initially empty Category.kt file in the project for this chapter, and add
the following definition:

inline infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<B, C>.after(crossinline f: Fun<A,

B>): Fun<A, C> =
{ a: A ->
this(f(a)) // HERE
}

Note: In the previous code you use the Kotlin keywords inline , infix and
crossinline . In this case, infix allows you to use a syntax like g after f
instead of g.after(f) . The inline keyword, as you’ll see in Chapter 4,
“Expression Evaluation, Laziness & More About Functions”, allows you to
basically replace every after invocation with the expression it represents.
Using inline then requires the use of crossinline for the input parameter,
f , in order to allow no-local returns from the function f itself.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

For a full description of these keywords, please refer to Kotlin Apprentice,

which is the best place to start.

This is a code representation of the (g◦f) notation you were using before,
where g represents this and f represents f .

The definition of after has many interesting things to note. It:

1. Is a generic function of the parameters types A , B and C .

2. Creates an extension function for the Fun<B, C> type.

3. Uses the infix and inline keywords.

4. Accepts a function Fun<A, B> as an input parameter and returns a function

Fun<A, C> as output.

Note: The last point asserts that after is a higher-order function because it
accepts a function as an input parameter and returns a function as output.
Don’t worry — you’ll learn about higher-order functions in Chapter 5, “Higher-
Order Functions”.

The definition of after looks more complicated than it actually is. Looking at
its body, it does exactly what you’ve done with formatAfterTwice but in a more
generic way. It:

Returns a function with an input parameter a of type A .

Uses the parameter a as input for the function f .

Passes the result of f(a) as an input parameter for the function you use as
the receiver, which in this case has type Fun<B, C> .

You can now use after with the previous example. Just add the following code
to main in Main.kt with:

main() {
// ...
val f: Fun<Int, Int> = ::twice // 1
val g: Fun<Int, String> = ::format // 2
val formatTwice = g after f // 3
println(formatTwice(37)) // 4
// ...
}

Note: In the previous code, you used :: to reference a function using its
name without calling it. For instance, ::twice is a reference to twice .

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Here, you:

1. Define f as a reference to ::twice of type Fun<Int, Int> .

2. Initialize g as a reference to ::format of type Fun<Int, String> .

3. Create formatTwice as a reference of type Fun<Int, String> to g◦f .

4. Invoke formatTwice , passing 37 as a value.

Build and run main , and you get the following additional output:

Result is 74

Exercise 2.4: In this section, you defined after , which allows you to write
expressions like:

val formatTwice = g after f

Can you write compose instead, which would allow you to implement the
same expression as:

val formatTwice = f compose g

Again, give it a try and check the challenge project and Appendix B to see
how you did.

It’s fundamental to note here the fact that after compiles is proof that
composition works for every type A , B and C and every function F<A, B>
and F<B, C> .

Proving associativity
To prove that the category of types and functions follows the associativity
property, you basically need to prove that:

(h after g) after f == h after (g after f)

Open Main.kt and add the following function:

fun length(s: String): Int = s.length

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals

Note: Here, you defined length explicitly, but you could use
String::length instead.

It’s a simple function that returns the length of the String you pass as an input
parameter. Its type is Fun<String, Int> .

In the same Main.kt file, add the following code in main :

fun main() {
// ...
val h: Fun<String, Int> = ::length // 1
val leftSide: Fun<String, Int> = (h after g) after f // 2
val rightSide: Fun<String, Int> = h after (g after f) // 3
println(leftSide(37) == rightSide(37)) // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define h as the reference to length as a function of type Fun<String,

Int> .

2. Create leftSide as the left side of the equation you want to prove.

3. Define rightSide as the right side of the equation you want to prove.
4. Check that the two members are equal.

When you run main , you get the following additional output:

true

You might object again that this specific example doesn’t prove anything — and
you’re right! What actually proves that associativity works for the category of
types and functions is the successful compilation of after .

This is because it means that, given the types A , B and C and the functions
f and g , you can always create a function that is their composition.

Another way to prove it is to replace the definition of after with its

implementation. In this case, the left side of the equation is:

(h after g) after f =
({ b: B -> h(g(b))}) after f =
{ a: A -> { h(g(f(a)))}}

The right side is:

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 2: Function Fundamentals
h after (g after f) =
h after ({ a: A -> g(f(a))}) =
{ a: A -> { h(g(f(a)))}}

The two members are exactly the same.

Note: In the last proof, you actually applied fundamental tools you’ll learn
about in detail in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”.

Proving identity
What does it mean to prove identity for the category of types and functions? It
means to prove that, for every type A , there’s always at least one function of
type Fun<A, A> . To create such a function, open the Category.kt file and add
this code:

fun <A> identity(value: A) = value

Although this function proves that identity exists, it’s important to mention that
it’s not the only one. The function twice you created earlier, for instance, is an
identity function because of type Fun<A, A> .

At this point, there’s something interesting to say about identity. As mentioned

earlier, twice is an example of a function that maps distinct values in the
domain to distinct values in the range. This means that twice has an inverse
function you can call half and define like this:

fun half(a: Int): Int = a / 2

But what does it mean to say that twice is the inverse of half ? This means
that:

half after twice = twice after half = identity

Note: In this case, if you half a value and then double it, you get the same
value. The same is true if you first double and then halve it.

When you have a function and an inverse function, you say that the functions
are isomorphisms. This definition gives a first reason for the existence of the
identity property. Of course, this isn’t true for all the functions from a type A to

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a type B . Some functions don’t have an inverse.

Anyway, it’s noteworthy that an isomorphic function somehow makes identity

obsolete because it would just be the composition of the function with its
inverse.

Exercise 2.5: Can you write an example of an isomorphic function f and its
inverse g and prove they always compose to identity ? When you’re done,
look at the solution in Appendix B.

This concludes the proof that types and functions creates a category. What,
then, is the meaning of starting and terminal objects for the category of types
and functions?

Initial and terminal objects

At this point, it’s interesting to see what the meaning of initial and terminal
object is in the category of types and functions.

The initial object

As you learned earlier, the starting point is an object with a unique morphism
compared to all other objects in the category. With types and functions, it means
that the initial point is a type you can use as input to a unique function to any
other type. Said in other words, any function that you call with this initial type
must always have the same result.

In Kotlin, this initial object is Nothing . You might argue that you could always
write a function from Int to any other type, and this is true. The problem is
that the function must be unique.

If Int were a starting point, the following two different functions of type
Fun<Int, String> :

val f: Fun<Int, String> = { a: Int -> "2 * $a = ${2*a}"}

val g: Fun<Int, String> = { a: Int -> "$a * $a = ${a*a}"}}

Would be the same function, but they aren’t! Instead, for any type A you
define:

fun <A> absurd(a: Nothing): A = a as A

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This function’s name is absurd because, if you want to invoke it, you need a
value of type Nothing , which is impossible. IntelliJ gives you a hint for this:

Figure 2.12: The absurd function

Note: You might wonder why some of the functions have names like absurd
and others are anonymous, like f and g in the last example. The reason is
that anonymous functions cannot be generic.

You might try to invoke it like this, giving the Kotlin compiler some hint about
the generic type, but the result would be the same.

Figure 2.13: Trying to use absurd

More importantly, because absurd is a function you can’t invoke, it never

returns, and this makes it unique. Any other function starting from Nothing to
any other type A would do exactly the same, so it’d be the same as absurd .

The terminal object

In the previous section, you learned where the famous Nothing Kotlin type
comes from. In the category of logic, you also learned that the terminal object is
the counterpart of the initial object. A terminal object, if it exists, is an object
with a unique incoming morphism from all other objects. In other words, all
functions that return this type will return the same object.

In the category of types and functions, this means a terminal object is a type
output of a unique function accepting an input parameter of any other type,
Nothing included. In Kotlin, this is the Unit type.

For any type A , you can create the function:

fun <A> unit(a: A): Unit = Unit

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Also, in this case, there are many significant things to note:

1. The unit function is generic with the type A , and it always returns
something you represent with Unit .
2. For any type A , the function unit is unique.

3. Unit isn’t just a type; it’s also the only value of that type.

To disprove uniqueness, you might try to create the following function as a

possible alternative. This wouldn’t work:

fun <A> unit2(a: A): Unit {

println("I'm different")
return Unit
}

At the beginning of the chapter, you learned that the concept of function isn’t
strongly related to the concept of computation. A function is a way to map
values in the domain to values in the range. In terms of mapping, unit and
unit2 are the same function.

Note: unit2 is actually a bad function because it hides a side effect, which is
another fundamental concept you’ll learn about in the next chapter.

The last point is also essential. You learned that with category theory, you can
only use objects and morphisms. What does it mean to say that Unit is the only
value for the Unit type? What does it mean that a is a value of type A ? In
general, what’s the relationship between the concept of type and the probably
more familiar concept of set?

Types and sets

In the previous section, you learned some interesting properties of the category
where objects are types and morphisms are functions. But what is a type? What
do you mean when you define a variable like this?

var a: Int = 10

You usually read this as “ a is an Int ”, but what do you mean by Int ? If you
think about this, Int is just a name to represent the set of all the integer values.
a is of type Int means that you can assign to a only values that are in the
set you call Int .

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Note: To be accurate, Int represents the set of all the possible integers that
you can represent using 4 bytes, so the whole numbers between
-2,147,483,648 (-2³¹) and 2,147,483,647 (2³¹-1).

In the same way, consider the following expression:

var s: String = "Hello"

In this case, you’re defining the variable s of type String , which is a way to
represent the set of all possible String s. Again, you can assign to s only
elements of the set you call String .

Thinking in terms of sets makes things easier. Consider the function twice
that you’ve already met:

fun twice(a: Int): Int = a * 2

This is basically a way to map elements in the set of Int to other elements in
the same set.

The function format is a way to map elements in the set of Int to elements in
the set of String .

fun format(b: Int): String = "Result is $b"

The following image gives a more intuitive representation of the previous

functions:

twice(0)

twice(3)
0 0
twice(-2)
3 6

-2 -4

Int Int

Figure 2.14: Representation of a function between Int values

Figure 2.14 can be a bit misleading, though, because it represents relations

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between elements of two set s, which in this case are both Int . But what does
it mean to be an element of a set? How can you represent this using just objects
and morphisms?

De nition of element
As you learned earlier, objects in category theory are like dots; they cannot be
decomposed. This also means the morphisms are the only tool you can use to
distinguish one object from the others.

In particular, category theory introduces the concept of structure, which you

define using the incoming morphism. Because of this, the initial object has no
structure. The terminal object, on the other hand, has a very clear and unique
structure because there’s exactly one and only one morphism from any other
object. This property makes the terminal object unique.

Nobody said that a terminal object can’t have outgoing morphisms. On the
contrary, from the terminal object, you might have many morphisms to a given
object A , like in Figure 2.15:

Terminal Object A

Figure 2.15: Final object with morphisms to object A.

More importantly, you can give a different name to each morphism, like x , y
or z .

You need to understand what this means for the category of types and
functions. This means that for a given type A , there are many functions of type
Fun<Unit,A> , one for each value of type A .

As a simple example, consider the type Int . You can create a different
function of each value of Int , like these you can add to the Main.kt file:

fun one(u: Unit): Int = 1

fun two(u: Unit): Int = 2
fun minusThree(u: Unit): Int = -3
// ...

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A function for each element of the set you associate to the type Int and the
name you give to that function is an element of the set A represents.

To see how to describe a simple invocation of a function using composition, just

add the following code to main :

fun main() {
// ...
// twice 2
val twiceTwo = ::twice after ::two // 1
println(twiceTwo(Unit)) // 2
// ...
}

In that code, you:

Define twiceTwo as the composition of two and twice .

Invoke twiceTwo , passing Unit as a parameter.

When you run that code, you’ll get the expected output:

Initial and terminal objects using sets

Thinking in terms of sets makes things a little bit easier. The initial object, by
definition, doesn’t have any incoming morphisms. It’s the type for a set without
any elements. Nothing is like the empty set. If you consider the concept of
subtype related to the concept of inheritance, you also understand why
Nothing is a subtype of every other type in Kotlin. This is because the empty set is
a subset of every other set. If you look at the source code for the Nothing type,
you’ll find this:

public class Nothing private constructor()

Nothing has a private constructor. This means that Nothing is a type, but you
can’t create any instances of it.

What about the terminal object? By definition, there’s a unique morphism from
any other type. This means there’s a unique function from any other type. If you
consider the terminal type to be a set, this means it’s a set containing a single
value that you know, in Kotlin, has the name Unit . Look at its source code, and

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you’ll find this:

object Unit {
override fun toString() = "kotlin.Unit"
}

This means that Unit is a type, but it’s also the name for its unique instance.

Function types
In one of the previous paragraphs, you created the following definition:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

With Fun<A, B> , you wanted to represent the set of all the functions from A
to B .

According to what you learned previously, this is exactly the concept of type of
a function. You’ve already learned how the category of types and functions
works. If the objects of that category are types of functions, what would the
morphisms be? This is something you’ll learn in the following chapter, and in
particular, with the concept of functor.

Challenges
In this chapter, you learned some fundamental concepts about category theory
and functional programming. It’s now time to solve some challenges and have
some fun. You’ll find the solutions in Appendix B, and the code in the challenge
project for this chapter.

Challenge 1: Functions and sets

How would you represent a specific Set using a function? For instance, how
would you represent the set of even numbers with a function? After that, how
would you print all the values in the set?

Challenge 2: Functions and sets again

How would you represent the intersection and union of two sets using
functions? The intersection is the set of objects that belong to set A and set B,
and the union is the set of all objects that belong to set A or set B.

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Challenge 3: The right domain

Consider the following function:

fun oneOver(x: Int): Double = 1.0 / x

What’s the domain and the range for this function? If you invoke oneOver(0) ,
you get an exception. How can you be sure you only pass values in the domain
as an input parameter?

Key points
A function is a way to map things from a domain to things in a range.

Category theory is necessary for understanding the fundamental concepts

of functional programming.
You define a category using objects and morphisms, which must follow the
fundamental rules of composition, associativity and identity.
Logic is a category that makes some concepts closer to the way humans
think.

The category of types and functions is the most important for a software
engineer because it explains functional programming concepts.

The initial object in a category has outgoing unique morphisms to all other
objects.

The terminal object in a category has incoming unique morphisms from all
other objects.
Not all categories have a terminal object.
Initial and terminal objects explain the meaning of the Kotlin standard types
Nothing and Unit .

It’s useful to think of a type for a variable as a way to represent the set of all
the values that variable can reference.

Understanding the relationship between types and sets simplifies some of the
most critical functional programming concepts.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! At this point, you have an idea of what a category is and why
category theory is important in understanding functional programming. It
might have been tough, but you don’t have to worry if something isn’t
completely clear at this point. In the following chapters, you’ll have the

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opportunity to see these concepts again in a more practical context. In the next
chapter, you’ll start to focus on pure functions.

Note: The inspiration for this chapter comes from the excellent work of
Bartosz Milewski in his YouTube video series Category Theory for
Programmers.

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3 Functional Programming
Concepts
Written by Massimo Carli

In the previous chapter, Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you had a deep

dive into what category theory is and how it relates to the concepts of types and
functions, which are the pillars of functional programming. You touched on
many things along the way. You learned:

That a function is a way to map elements of a domain set into values of a

range set.
The relation between sets and types.

The logic category.

What the Kotlin Nothing and Unit types really are.

You also had the opportunity to learn the concept of type of a function. You
defined the typealias Fun<A, B> to represent all the functions mapping
values in A to values in B . For instance, Fun<Int, String> represents the
set of all the functions from Int to String . On the other hand, not all
functions are the same, and what you’ve seen so far is true for a specific type:
pure functions. You’ll learn more about this as you read on.

It’s also important to mention that all the functions you use in programming
contain some sort of computation, and the output is often calculated from the
input as the result of expressions.

In this chapter, you’ll learn some vital concepts about functions, and in
particular:

What a pure function is.

What an expression is, and what referential transparency means.

How to prove a function is pure using the substitution model.

What a side effect is.

How to handle side effects in a functional way.
How side effects change the way you compose functions.

You’ll learn all these concepts using the Kotlin language and a bunch of
entertaining exercises and challenges.

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Pure functions
In the previous chapter, you learned that a function is a way to map values from
a set A to values in a set B . You use sets to represent values of a specific type.
For functions from A to B , you defined the following typealias where A is
the type for the domain, and B is the type for the range:

Note: If you need a reminder about domain and range, skip back to Chapter
2, “Function Fundamentals”.

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

Note: You’ll find this definition already in the Aliases.kt file in this chapter’s
starter project.

Now, consider the following functions and add them to Pure.kt in the same
starter project:

fun twice(x: Int): Int = x * 2

fun twiceAndLog(x: Int): Int {

val result = x * 2
println("2 * $x = $result")
return result
}

In this code, twice and twiceAndLog have type Fun<Int, Int> , and you can
prove this by adding the following code to the same file:

fun main() {
var f: Fun<Int, Int> = ::twice // 1
println("Executing twice(10)")
f(10) // 2
f = ::twiceAndLog // 3
println("Executing twiceAndLog(10)")
f(10) // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Assign twice ’s reference to a variable f of type Fun<Int, Int> .

2. Invoke f(10) .
3. Change the value of f , assigning the reference to twiceAndLog .

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4. Invoke f(10) .

Compile the code and run it. It provides the following output:

Executing twice(10)
Executing twiceAndLog(10)
2 * 10 = 20 // HERE

Of course, the invocation of twice produced no log output but twiceAndLog

did because of the println statement in its body, pointed out with “HERE”. But
in terms of functions, they should be exactly the same because they map the
same input values to the same output values. So, what’s the difference? The
difference is that twice is a pure function and twiceAndLog is not. So, how
would you define what a “pure function” is?

Pure function de nition

A function f is pure if the following properties are both true:

1. f always maps the same input values to the same output values.
2. The universe doesn’t change after each invocation of f .

The first point means that if you invoke the function f with specific input
parameters, you’ll always get the same output. In other words, the output of f
depends only on the input parameters and nothing else. Referential
transparency gives this concept a formal definition, and you’ll learn all about it
very soon.

The second property might look weird. If you consider the universe as a very big
object with some properties, it has a state. You can think of the universe as
everything else that exists outside the function’s body. As mentioned in the
introduction of Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, the state of an object is
the set of all its property values — remember the Ferrari and Fiat 500?

If the execution of f changes the state of the universe, such as a property on

one of those cars, then f is not pure. The formal definition says that, in this
case, f has side effects. You’ll learn a lot about side effects in this chapter as
well as the following ones.

More formally, you can now say that a function is pure if:

1. Its body is a referential transparent expression.

2. It doesn’t have any side effects.

As mentioned, you’ll see what referential transparency and side effects are very

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soon. For right now, it’s useful to see some examples and describe why pure
functions are so important in functional programming.

Note: The term “pure” comes from Lisp, a functional language that also
allows side effects. Functions with side effects aren’t considered to be good
functions, and so are somehow impure. :]

Examples of pure and impure functions

Open the Pure.kt file of the starter project in the material for this chapter and
look at twice , which you met earlier in the chapter:

fun twice(x: Int): Int = x * 2

This is a pure function because:

1. Every time you invoke twice with the same parameter value for x , you
always get the same result, x * 2 , in output.

2. It just returns an output value that is double the value you pass as input.
Nothing happens to the universe outside the function body, no matter how
many times it’s called.

To get an idea of the first property, add the following code to Pure.kt:

fun main() {
// ...
println(twice(10))
println(twice(10))
println(twice(10))
println(twice(10))
println(twice(10))
}

Note: The previous code just gives you an idea of referential transparency:
that the same input always maps to the same output. To be rigorous, you
should prove that the property is true for all the values in the domain of
twice and not just for the value 10 . :]

Here, you invoke twice(10) five times and, with println , you can verify the
result is always 20 . Run main and check the following output:

20
20

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20
20
20

Now, follow the same process with twiceAndLog that you already wrote in the
Pure.kt file:

fun twiceAndLog(x: Int): Int {

val result = x * 2
println("2 * $x = $result")
return result
}

In this case, twiceAndLog is not pure. To understand why, check the

aforementioned two properties:

1. Every time you invoke twiceAndLog with the same parameter x , you
always get the same result, x * 2 , as output. As said, from this point of
view, twiceAndLog is the same function as twice .
2. Unfortunately, returning a result isn’t the only thing this function does. It
also changes the universe in the sense that the world now has some output
messages the function has written using println . The state of the universe,
specifically the standard output of your small program, is now different.

Exercise 3.1: Is inc a pure function?

var count = 0
fun inc(x: Int): Int = ++count + x

Try arguing your answer and check Appendix C to see how you did.

Now, consider the following example, and add it in Pure.kt:

fun randomInc(a: Int): Int = a + Random.nextInt()

This function adds a random integer to the value that was passed in. If you
check the two properties for a pure function, you see that:

1. Invoking randomInc multiple times with the same input parameter, you get
different output values because of the random value you get with
Random.nextInt() . This alone allows you to say that randomInc isn’t pure.
It’s worth checking the second property regardless.

2. Every time you invoke randomInc , you also change the universe. This isn’t

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obvious because you don’t have any println , and apparently, you’re not
changing anything outside the function’s body. This actually isn’t true
because every time you invoke Random.nextInt() , you’re changing the
state of Random , the object responsible for generating random numbers.
Random works as a global object, which is part of the universe.

You can easily prove the first point by adding the following code to main in
Pure.kt:

fun main() {
// ...
println(randomInc(10))
println(randomInc(10))
println(randomInc(10))
println(randomInc(10))
}

If you run main , you’ll get different values like this as output:

424226219
-1433325033
-326412163
1941055914

Note: Of course, the values in your output will be different because of the
randomness of Random.nextInt() .

In Why are pure functions important?, you’ll learn how to recognize pure and
impure functions with other examples. But why is it so important to understand
if a function is pure?

Exercise 3.2: Is inc2 a pure function?

val count = 0
fun inc2(x: Int): Int = x + count + 1

Give it a try and check Appendix C to see how you did.

Why are pure functions important?

Understanding if a function is pure is a fundamental concept in functional
programming. Pure functions provide many significant benefits, and in
particular, they are:

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Easy to understand.
Easy to test and debug.

Composable in other pure functions.

Easy to run in parallel.

Idempotent and easy to recover.

Memoizable.
Able to be performed lazily.

It’s worth going over each of these advantages with some small examples. You’ll
also have the chance to see each of these in depth in the rest of the book.

Pure functions are easy to understand

A pure function doesn’t depend on anything other than its input parameters.
This means you can understand it simply by following the logic path from the
input to the output, which you define using the expression in the function body.
If a pure function is too complex, you can decompose it into smaller functions
and recompose them later into a final, single result. You don’t need any
knowledge of the universe because all you need is in the function body.

Add the following example to Pure.kt:

fun abs(x: Int) = if (x < 0) -x else x

This function checks if x is negative, changing its sign if it is. Because x is all
you need, understanding what abs does is very simple. If this is too complex,
you could replace it like this:

fun negate(x: Int) = -x // 1

fun identity(x: Int) = x // 2
fun abs(x: Int) = if (x < 0) negate(x) else identity(x) // 3

In this case, you define:

1. The pure function negate , which negates the input value.

2. The identity function, which is also pure.

3. abs , which applies some logic to understand if it should invoke identity

or negate .

The complexity of a function is in the interaction with the external world. These
interactions are called side effects. By definition, side effects aren’t present in

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pure functions.

Pure functions are easy to test and debug

The absence of side effects also makes pure functions easier to test. Imagine
you want to count how many times you invoke abs , which you defined earlier.

A possible approach is the following. Add it to Counter.kt:

var count = 0 // 1

fun countedAbs(x: Int): Int { // 2

count++
return abs(x)
}

In this simple code, you:

1. Define count and initialize it to 0.

2. Create countedAbs as a function, which increments the value of count and

returns the output of abs .

From what you learned earlier, this is impure because it changes the state of
the universe, and in particular, its property count , which is a mutable global
variable.

You’ll see in the rest of the book why this solution is far from being the best. But
in this case, you just need to understand whether or not it’s easy to test and
debug. To test it, create a test using IntelliJ. Select the name countedAbs and
press OPTION+ENTER to get the drop-down with a Create test option in Figure
3.1:

Figure 3.1: Create a unit test with IntelliJ

Select Create test and, after switching to JUnit4 in Testing Library, you’ll see
the following dialog:

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Figure 3.2: Set up JUnit test

Select OK and choose the test/kotlin folder, like in Figure 3.3:

Figure 3.3: Choosing the test folder

Selecting OK for the last time, you’ll end up at an initially empty

CounterKtTest.kt file. In this file, write your first test like this:

class CounterKtTest {
@Test
fun test100Times() {
100.invokeTimes { // 1
countedAbs(it) // 2
}
assertThat(count).isEqualTo(100) // 3
}
}

In this test, you simply:

1. Use invokeTimes , which is a simple utility method you’ll find in Util.kt. This
allows you to run the lambda you pass as a parameter the number of times
you use as the receiver. In this case, you invoke the lambda 100 times.
2. Invoke countedAbs , passing the current execution number as a parameter.
For this test, you don’t really care about the input parameter for

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countedAbs .

3. You assert that the counter value is 100 .

If you run test100Times , you’ll get a green result, which means the test
succeeded. So far, so good.

Now, suppose you add another test like the following to the same
CounterKtTest.kt file:

class CounterKtTest {
//...
@Test
fun test50Times() {
50.invokeTimes {
countedAbs(it)
}
assertThat(count).isEqualTo(50)
}
}

If you now run the two tests, you’ll get some problems. In particular, you’ll get
something like this:

value of: getCount()

expected: 100
but was : 150
value of: getCount()
expected: 100
but was : 150
at
com.raywenderlich.fp.CounterKtTest.test100Times(CounterKtTest.kt:47
)

The specific test test100Times fails because you were expecting a count of
100 , but you get a count of 150 instead. The reason is obvious: The previous
test, test50Times , changed the universe and you didn’t run test100Times in
isolation like every test should be. In this case, the problem is that you need to
know what’s already happened to the universe to predict the result of your
function. What already happened depends on many things, like the number of
times the same countedAbs was already executed, making the test difficult to
implement.

You might argue that just resetting the value of count before each test, like the
following, could fix the problem:

@Test
fun test100Times() {
count = 0 // HERE
100.invokeTimes {

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countedAbs(it)
}
assertThat(count).isEqualTo(100)
}

This is true, but only if all the tests aren’t run concurrently. In that case, this fix
wouldn’t work because of the risk of resetting the value of count in the middle
of the execution of another test.

How could you solve this problem, then? Would a pure version of countedAbs
solve this testability problem?

Spoiler alert: A pure countedAbs

Remember, a pure function doesn’t change the universe, and it has all it needs
in the input parameters. You’ll see these concepts again in the book, but to give
you some idea, consider the following function and add it to Counter.kt:

fun countedAbs(count: Int, a: Int): Pair<Int, Int> =

abs(a) to count + 1

As you see, countedAbs now has two parameters: count is the number of
times the function has been invoked before this, and a is the input parameter
for abs . The return type is now very interesting because it’s a Pair<Int,
Int> . The first value is the result of abs , and the second is the new value of
count , which is the previous +1 . You can easily verify that countedAbs is
now a pure function:

The output depends only on the input parameters.

Invoking countedAbs doesn’t change the universe. It also causes no side

effects.

What about the test, then? Open CounterKtTest.kt and replace the existing tests
with the following:

class CounterKtTest {
//...
@Test
fun test50TimesAbs() {
var c = 0 // 1
50.invokeTimes {
val (count, _) = countedAbs(c, it) // 2
c = count // 3
}
assertThat(c).isEqualTo(50) // 4
}

@Test

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fun test100TimesAbs() {
var c = 0 // 1
100.invokeTimes {
val (count, _) = countedAbs(c, it) // 2
c = count // 3
}
assertThat(c).isEqualTo(100) // 4
}
}

In this case, you:

1. Use a local variable c for the count, which you initialize at 0.

2. Invoke countedAbs 50 times in the first test and 100 in the second, passing
the value you got from the previous execution for the count parameter.

3. Update the value of the local variable c .

4. Assert the value of c to check it’s what you expected.

Now, run the tests, and everything will pass. Consider also that the tests run in
complete isolation. Even if executed in a different thread, they’d be successful.
In this case, all of the changes are local to the scope of a single test.

Note: In the previous tests, you invoked countedAbs many times, but one
invocation would’ve been enough to test that it works! This is because this
version of countedAbs is pure. :]

Pure functions are composable

As you know, by definition, in a pure function, the output depends only on the
input parameters, making the composition of pure functions pure as well. You
might argue that you can combine impure functions in the same way you
combine pure functions. This is true, but composition wouldn’t fix their purity.
Add the following functions to Pure.kt:

var sharedCount = 1 // 1

fun comp1(x: Int): String = "Hello ${x + sharedCount}" // 2

fun comp2(x: String): Int = x.length - sharedCount // 3

Here, you:

1. Initialize the global variable sharedCount to 1 .

2. Define comp1 as Fun<Int, String> , which returns a formatted String

using sharedCount . This is impure.

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3. Define comp2 as Fun<String, Int> , which returns the length of the

String as input minus sharedCount . This is also impure.

Both comp1 and comp2 are impure because their output doesn’t depend just
on the input parameters but also on sharedCount . You can now compose them
like this using after , which you defined in the previous chapter and is found
in Category.kt:

val comp2AfterComp1 = ::comp2 after ::comp1

Here, you defined comp2AfterComp1 , which is still impure because its output
doesn’t depend just on its input but still on sharedCount . If you have instead
composed two pure functions, the result would also be pure. In the rest of the
book, you’ll see many examples of pure functions composed of other pure
functions.

Pure functions can run in parallel

As you’ll see in Section III, thread safety is one of the big advantages of
functional programming. This thread safety is mainly because of the use of pure
functions.

As you’ve read many times now, the output of a pure function just depends on
the input. Another way of saying this is that, with the input values, the function
has all it needs to return an output value. Pure functions don’t have any
dependency with the external universe and don’t share data with it. Pure
functions can run in parallel.

Open the Parallel.kt file and add the following code:

fun square(x: Double): Double = x * x // 1

fun root(x: Double): Double = Math.sqrt(x) // 2

fun distance( // 3
x0: Double,
x1: Double,
y0: Double,
y1: Double
): Double {
val s1 = square(x1 - x0) // 4
val s2 = square(y1 - y0) // 4
return root(s1 + s2) // 5
}

In this simple code, you define the following functions:

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1. square , which calculates the square of the Double value you pass as input.
This is a pure function.
2. root , which calculates the square root of the Double value you pass as
input. This is a pure function.

3. distance , which calculates the distance between two points given their
coordinates. This is also a pure function.

Look into the body of distance , and you’ll see that you:

4. Calculate the square of the difference for the x coordinates first and then
the square of the difference of y values and save them in s1 and s2 .

5. Return the square root of the sum of s1 and s2 .

The interesting thing here is that the order you use to calculate s1 and s2
doesn’t matter. You could’ve calculated s2 first and then s1 . The important
thing is that you invoke sqrt when you have both s1 and s2 . Because the
order in which you calculate s1 and s2 doesn’t matter, it means you could
calculate them in parallel and then join the result when invoking sqrt . All the
options in Figure 3.4 are valid:

Figure 3.4: Pure function parallelism

It is possible because square is pure. If it wasn’t pure and had side effects, the
result of square ‘s two executions would depend on what’s in the universe,
which also depends on the execution order.

The chance to run pure functions in parallel is also essential in the case of
distributed systems. You might run the functions on different machines,
providing just the input parameters and collecting the result.

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Race conditions and deadlocks are two of the main problems when you run
functions in a concurrent environment. These especially happen when multiple
threads share mutable data. If a function is pure, it has all it needs in its input
parameters, so it doesn’t need to share anything.

Note: The code you execute as the body of a pure function must run in a
single thread.

Pure functions are idempotent and easy to recover

Idempotent is a term you normally use in the context of a RESTful service in
the case of requests using PUT or DELETE methods. The effect of an
idempotent request is the same in the case of a single or multiple requests. A
pure function is idempotent because it doesn’t have side effects, so invoking the
function once or multiple times doesn’t make any difference. Another way of
saying this is that pure functions are safe. You can execute them multiple times
without any problems besides the CPU usage.

The execution of a function can fail for many reasons. Imagine a function that
takes some time, and then, in the middle of the execution, the machine crashes.
Because the output depends on the input, you can simply retry the function’s
execution, and you’ll be sure to get the result you’re expecting. If the result is
very important, you could run the function on multiple machines and collect
the result from the first one that completes.

Pure functions are easy to memoize

Like in the previous paragraph, imagine you have a function that takes some
time to execute. If the function is pure, for the same input value, you’ll always
get the same output value. If the function takes some time and you already know
the result for a given input, why would you repeat the computation?

You’d always get the same result. The best solution, then, is to save the previous
result somewhere and return it if you invoke the function with the same input.
This process is called memoization.

Note: In Chapter 5, “Higher-Order Functions”, you’ll see how to implement a

higher-order function for adding memoization to any other existing function.

Pure functions are lazily executable

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There’s a definition saying that “a function is a way to describe some code you
can maybe run later”. This definition is apt because it makes explicit that you
can:

Execute the function long after you’ve implemented it.

Completely avoid the execution of the function, saving time and resources.

Because pure functions don’t depend on the universe around them, you can
execute them at any time, wait to execute them, or even never execute them if
you never need the output value!

In the next chapter, Chapter 4, “Expression Evaluation, Laziness & More About
Functions”, you’ll learn more about laziness and why it’s an important feature
of pure functions.

Referential transparency and the

substitution model
In the previous part of the chapter, you learned why pure functions are
important. You also learned that a pure function always returns the same
output values when you provide the same input values. As previously
mentioned, when you write the body of a pure function, you basically write an
expression. You define expression as a combination of constants, variables,
operators and functions that your computer computes, producing another
value. The following are some basic examples of expressions:

val exp1 = 1 + 2 * 2 // 1
val exp2 = exp1 * 20 // 2
val exp3 = 2 * (expr2 - expr1) // 3

Here, you:

1. Define exp1 as the result of the sum of 1 and the result of the
multiplication of 2 with itself.

2. Reuse the result from the previous expression, exp1 , in a second one,
expr2 , which multiplies the previous value by 20 .

3. Reuse both the previously calculated expressions, exp1 and exp2 , for a
third, slightly more complex exp3 .

To get the result of exp3 , you basically reduce all the other expressions until
you get a single value. In the previous case, you calculate the result like this:

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exp1 == 1 + 2 * 2 == 5
exp2 == exp1 * 20 = 5 * 20 == 100
exp3 == 2 * (expr2 - expr1) == 2 * (100 - 5) == 2 * 95 == 190

An expression like expr3 is referentially transparent if, in every place it’s

used, you can replace it with its final result. More formally, any program using
the expression exp3 shouldn’t change its behavior if you replace exp3 with
190 .

A function f is pure if the expression f(x) is referentially transparent for all

referentially transparent x . If an expression isn’t referentially transparent,
you say it’s referentially opaque.

It’s worth seeing some more examples.

Examples of referentially transparent expressions

Referential transparency is a mandatory property of pure functions. Keep
reading for some more examples.

Consider the following expressions:

// 1
val a = expr
val (a1, a2) = a to a

// 2
val (a1, a2) = expr to expr

Is the definition in 1 equivalent to the one in 2? The answer is yes, but if and only
if expr is pure. To prove that, copy the following code into
ReferentialTransparency.kt:

fun main() {
val expr1 = { 3 * 10 } // 1
val (a1, a2) = expr1() to expr1() // 2
val expr1Eval = expr1() // 3
val (a1Eval, a2Eval) = expr1Eval to expr1Eval // 4
assertOrThrow("expr1 is not RT") { // 5
a1 == a1Eval && a2 == a2Eval
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define the simple referentially transparent expression expr1 , multiplying

3 and 10 . Note how the expression is 3 * 10 , but you put it as the body
of a lambda for it to be evaluated later.

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2. Create a Pair<Int, Int> evaluating expr1 for the first and second values.

3. Evaluate expr1 once in expr1Eval .

4. Create another Pair<Int, Int> using expr1Eval twice.

5. Assert that the two Pair<Int, Int> are the same. You find assertOrThrow
in Ext.kt in the util package.

Run the code and see that there’s no exception thrown. This means the two
expressions are equivalent, so expr1 is referentially transparent. Can you do
the same with a referentially opaque function? To verify that, just add the
following code to main , which differs from the previous because it uses
expr2 , which isn’t referentially transparent. It changes an outside count
variable:

var count = 1 // 1
val expr2 = { 3 * 10 * ++count } // 2
val (b1, b2) = expr2() to expr2()
val expr2Eval = expr2()
val (b1Eval, b2Eval) = expr2Eval to expr2Eval
assertOrThrow("expr2 is not RT") {
b1 == b1Eval && b2 == b2Eval
}

In this case, expr2 isn’t referentially transparent because it returns different

values every time you invoke it.

This is because it depends on the value of count it changes at every execution.

When you run the code, you now get:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.AssertionError: expr2 is not

RT

In this case, the number of times you execute expr2 changes its output,
making it referentially opaque.

Exercise 3.3: Is expr3 :

val expr3 = 42
val (a1, a2) = expr3 to expr3

The same as the following?

val (a1, a2) = 42 to 42

Give it a try and check Appendix C to see how you did.

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Consider, now, the following expression:

val expr3 = { println("Hello World!") }

Is this referential transparency? The answer is no, but if you add and run the
following code in ReferentialTransparent.kt, you don’t get any errors:

val expr3 = { println("Hello World!") }

val (c1, c2) = expr3() to expr3()
val expr3Eval = expr3()
val (c1Eval, c2Eval) = expr3Eval to expr3Eval
assertOrThrow("expr2 is not RT") {
c1 == c1Eval && c2 == c2Eval
}

So, what’s wrong? The previous code just tests if the output of the expression is
always the same for the given input. In this case, there’s no input, and the
output is the output of println , which is Unit . To understand why expr3
isn’t pure, you need to check the definition.

Given:

val expr3 = { println("Hello World!") }

Is the program:

val (c1, c2) = expr3() to expr3()

Equivalent to the following?

val expr3Eval = expr3()

val (c1Eval, c2Eval) = expr3Eval to expr3Eval

The answer, again, is no. The first produces as output:

Hello World!
Hello World!

The second produces:

Hello World!

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In the second case, you’ve replaced the expression’s invocation with its result
value, and the program has changed. This proves that expr3 isn’t referentially
transparent.

In the previous examples, you’ve basically replaced every invocation of a given

expression with its result and checked if the resulting program was somehow
different. This model of substituting values for expressions is called the
substitution model.

Exercise 3.4: Suppose you have the following code:

val CounterIterator = object : Iterator<Int> {

private var count = 0

override fun hasNext(): Boolean = true

override fun next(): Int = count++

}

Is the following expression referentially transparent?

val expr4 = { CounterIterator.next() }

Give it a try and check Appendix C to see how you did.

Referentially transparent expressions and Kotlin

inline functions
You just learned that you can replace a referentially transparent expression
with its result in every place it’s used without breaking the related program.
This is something that probably reminds you of the concept of inline functions
in Kotlin. The question you want to answer now is: Can a referentially transparent
function always be inlined?

To answer this question, add the following function to Inline.kt:

fun cube(x: Int): Int = x * x * x

This simple function calculates the cube of the input value. This is clearly a pure
function, and its body contains an expression that’s clearly referentially
transparent. Now, add the following new function to the same file:

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fun doubleCube(x: Int) = cube(x) + cube(x)

This is another simple pure function calculating the sum of the values you get
from invoking cube twice. To calculate the result of doubleCube for 2 , do
the following:

doubleCube(2) ==
cube(2) + cube(2) ==
(2 * 2 * 2) + (2 * 2 * 2) ==
8 + 8 ==
16

You apply the substitution model and reduce the expression to the single value
16 . Because the expression in the body of doubleCube is referentially
transparent, you could replace every call to doubleCube(2) with the simple
value 16 .

Write and run the following code to verify that the result is 16 :

fun main() {
assertOrThrow("") {
doubleCube(2) == 16
}
}

It’s interesting now to look at the code Kotlin generates from the previous code.

In the Tools menu, go to the Kotlin submenu and select the Show Kotlin
Bytecode option, like in Figure 3.5:

Figure 3.5: Show Kotlin Bytecode option

This will display some bytecode like in Figure 3.6.

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Figure 3.6: The generated Kotlin bytecode

Reading Kotlin bytecode can be made simpler with the Decompile button, so
press that now.

That leads to a more readable representation of the code the Kotlin compiler
generates from your source code, like in Figure 3.7:

Figure 3.7: The generated Kotlin bytecode decompiled

Note: Don’t worry if you see some compilation errors in the decompiled code.
What you see here isn’t supposed to compile successfully, but it’s useful to
have an idea of how the Kotlin compiler works.

As you can see, the generated code isn’t much different from the one you wrote
initially. You still have:

1. The same definition of cube .

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2. doubleCube , which still invokes cube twice.

As said, cube and doubleCube are pure functions, and the expressions in
their bodies are referentially transparent. What about defining them as inline
functions? Change the previous implementations to include the inline
keyword. They should now look like this:

inline fun cube(x: Int): Int = x * x * x

inline fun doubleCube(x: Int) = cube(x) + cube(x)

The only difference is the use of the inline keyword. If you now repeat the
process to get the Kotlin bytecode, this time removing what’s not critical, you’ll
get something like Figure 3.8:

Figure 3.8: The generated Kotlin bytecode decompiled for inline functions

As you can see, the Kotlin compiler has replicated the expression you wrote in
cube in every place where the same function has been invoked in
doubleCube . If you look at the generated code, you also note that:

1. Kotlin generates a variable, var10000 , with a copy of the expression in

cube .

2. The return value of doubleCube reuses var10000 and then another copy of
the expression in cube .

For a correct application of the replication model, the return value would’ve
been:

return x * x * x + x * x * x

You can say, then, that you can inline a pure function, but what’s really
happening isn’t a complete application of the substitution model. In addition,

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when you look carefully at your source code, you’ll see a warning from IntelliJ,
like in Figure 3.9:

Figure 3.9: Inline function warning message

The message basically says the benefit in performance you get by inlining a
function like cube or doubleCube is insignificant and probably useless. The
message also says the possible benefits happen when you have parameters of
functional types. This means higher-order functions, which you’ll learn about
in detail in Chapter 5, “Higher-Order Functions”.

Side effects
You know that a pure function returns output values, which depend only on the
values you provide as input. The function calculates the output value, resolving
the referentially transparent expression you define in its body. You also learned
that a pure function doesn’t change the state of the universe. This means you
can run it an unlimited number of times without any external effect.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that side effects are things you must
avoid completely. This isn’t actually true because side effects are the reasons you
create and run programs. For instance, if you want your app to persist some
data in a database or fetch some data by accessing the network, you need to
have some functions with side effects. Side effects are everywhere. So, what’s
the problem?

One of the problems you want to solve with functional programming is to control
side effects or isolate and execute them safely. As said, you’ll study side effects
much more in the following chapters, but it’s now important to give an example
of what it means to have control of side effects. Open SideEffects.kt, and add
the following code:

fun shiftLeft(x: Int) = x shl 1 // 1

fun not(x: Int) = x.inv() // 2

These are two basic pure functions that:

1. Shift the input value left by 1 position.

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2. Negate the binary representation of the input value.

Using after , you can easily compose the two functions like this:

val shiftLeftAndNot = ::not after ::shiftLeft

You can test shiftLeftAndNot by running the following code:

fun main() {
val comp1 = not(shiftLeft(10))
val comp2 = shiftLeftAndNot(10)
assertOrThrow("comp1 != comp2") {
comp1 == comp2
}
}

So far, so good! Now, suppose you want to log the operation you’re executing in
shiftLeft and not . How could you solve this problem in a functional way?

A first, impure, approach would be to use the following. Add it to

SideEffect2.kt:

fun shiftLeftAndLog(x: Int): Int {

println("Shift Left of $x") // 1
return x shl 1
}

fun notAndLog(x: Int): Int {

println("Negate $x") // 2
return x.inv()
}

In this code, you:

1. Used println to print a message in the body of shiftLeftAndLog .

2. Did the same for notAndLog .

The new functions shiftLeftAndLog and notAndLog are not pure because
they have side effects! Each function is changing the universe by writing
something in the standard output. The side effects aren’t under control, and it’s
like each function is firing its own effect in a different direction.

The first consequence involves testability. How can you test shiftLeftAndLog
and notAndLog ? Trying to improve testability is a reason to improve the
previous example by introducing the Logger abstraction. Add the following
code in SideEffects3.kt:

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interface Logger { // 1
fun log(msg: String)
}

val StdLogger = object : Logger { // 2

override fun log(msg: String) {
println(msg)
}
}

fun shiftLeftWithLogger(logger: Logger, x: Int): Int { // 3

logger.log("Shift Left of $x") // 4
return x shl 1
}

fun notWithLogger(logger: Logger, x: Int): Int { // 3

logger.log("Negate $x") // 4
return x.inv()
}

In this code, you:

1. Define Logger as the abstraction for the object responsible for logging.
2. Provide StdLogger as a Logger implementation for the standard output.

3. Add Logger as an additional input parameter and create

shiftLeftWithLogger and notWithLogger .

4. Use the Logger in the body of shiftLeftWithLogger and notWithLogger .

shiftLeftWithLogger and notWithLogger are impure, and they have side

effects. However, they are — compared to the previous implementations — easier
to test. You just need to provide a MockLogger implementation like the
following:

class MockLogger : Logger {

private val internalLog = StringBuilder()

val log: String
get() = internalLog.toString()

override fun log(msg: String) {

internalLog.append(msg)
}
}

And test the previous functions by adding the following code to main in
SideEffects3.kt:

fun main() {
val mockLogger1 = MockLogger()
shiftLeftWithLogger(mockLogger1, 10)
assertOrThrow("Problem testing shiftLeft()") {
mockLogger1.log == "Shift Left of 10"

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}
val mockLogger2 = MockLogger()
notWithLogger(mockLogger2, 10)
assertOrThrow("Problem testing not()") {
mockLogger2.log == "Negate 10"
}
}

Here, you’re basically trying to put the result of the side effect into some sort of
container, MockLogger , and verifying its content at the end of the test. Run
main and check that everything is fine without any exceptions.

The biggest problem is that now shiftLeftWithLogger and notWithLogger

aren’t composable, like the original shiftLeft and not were in
SideEffects.kt. The output of shiftLeftWithLogger has type Int , but the
input of notWithLogger now needs two parameters: one of type Logger and
one of type Int .

How can you implement the initial shiftLeft and not implementations with
logging capabilities as pure functions, making them easier to test and compose?

A rst look at composition with side effects

You’ll learn how to handle side effects in great detail in the following chapters of
this book, particularly in Chapter 8, “Composition”. In this case, it’s worth first
seeing an example of how you can implement composition when you have a
function with side effects.

In the previous examples, you implemented the side effect, invoking println
in the body of shiftLeftAndLog and notAndLog or delegating to a Logger in
shiftLeftWithLogger and notWithLogger . Now, use a different approach and
write the following code in SideEffects4.kt:

fun shiftLeftWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> { // 1

return x shl 1 to "Shift Left of $x" // 2
}

fun notWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> { // 1

return x.inv() to "Negate $x" // 2
}

In this code, you:

1. Decorated the output value of shiftLeftWithEffect and notWithEffect

with the information you want to use for the log.

2. Returned a Pair<Int, String> with the result of the original function as

the first value and the log message as the second.

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The idea is to include the description of the side effect in the return value of the
function. Both shiftLeftWithEffect and notWithEffect are pure!
Unfortunately they aren’t composable yet. The input for notWithEffect is Int ,
but the output of shiftLeftWithEffect is Pair<Int, String> .

Again, you’ll see these concepts in greater detail later, but now look at the
previous functions and their signatures. Define the following typealias :

typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

You can say the previous:

1. shiftLeftWithEffect has type Writer<Int, Int> .

2. notWithEffect has the same type Writer<Int, Int> .

You now have two functions of the same type, and you just have to define how
composition works for them. In the same SideEffects4.kt file, add the following
code:

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<B, C>.after(

w: Writer<A, B>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A -> // 1
val (b, str) = w(a) // 2
val (c, str2) = this(b) // 3
c to "$str\n$str2\n" // 4
}

In the higher-order function after , you:

1. Use Writer<B, C> as receiver and accept an input parameter of type

Writer<A, B> . The output type is Writer<A, C> .

2. Invoke the Writer<A, B> you pass as a parameter on the input a of type
A and, using Kotlin destructuring, save the result in two different local
variables: b of type B and str of type String .
3. Invoke Writer<B, C> using b from the previous expression, and
destructure the result in c of type C and str2 of type String .
4. Implement the actual composition, returning a Pair<Int, String> where
first is the value c you got from the previous instruction and second is
the concatenation of the String s you got in the previous instruction.

Now, by adding the following code in the same file, you can test everything:

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fun main() {
val f: Writer<Int, Int> = ::shiftLeftWithEffect // 1
val g: Writer<Int, Int> = ::notWithEffect // 2
val shiftLeftAndNotWithEffects = g after f // 3
println(shiftLeftAndNotWithEffects(10).second) // 4
}

In this example, you:

1. Save in f the reference to ::shiftLeftWithEffect , giving it the explicit
type Writer<Int, Int> .
2. Do the same for g and ::notWithEffect .

3. Create shiftLeftAndNotWithEffects using after . This is a composition of

f and g , which is the composition of shiftLeftWithEffect and
notWithEffect .

4. Print second in the final result, which is the concatenation of the logs.

Run the previous code, and you’ll get the following output:

Shift Left of 10
Negate 20

The new versions of shiftLeftWithEffect and notWithEffect are pure

functions you can compose into another pure function, getting all the
advantages you learned earlier.

Note: Don’t worry if this process isn’t completely clear at this point. What
you’ve done in this paragraph is anything but obvious, and you’ll have many
opportunities to revisit the same concepts in the following chapters of the
book.

Lifting a function to a writer

Look again at the functions you created in SideEffects4.kt in a previous
example:

fun shiftLeftWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> {

return x shl 1 to "Shift Left of $x"
}

/** A second version of not */

fun notWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> {
return x.inv() to "Negate $x"
}

These are two functions of type Writer<Int, Int> , but they’re different from

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the original ones of type Fun<Int, Int> you defined in SideEffects.kt:

fun shiftLeft(x: Int): Int = x shl 1

fun not(x: Int): Int = x.inv()

Is there a way to get the former version from the latter? Of course there is! Write
the following function in SideEffects5.kt:

fun <A, B> Fun<A, B>.liftW(

log: (A, B) -> String
): Writer<A, B> =
{ a: A ->
val b = this(a)
b to log(a, b)
}

This is an extension function on the Fun<A, B> type, which creates a

Writer<A, B> , adding a string as decoration in the resulting type. The log you
use as decoration is the result of the function you pass as an input parameter
from the input and output values of the receiver function.

Note: liftW is another example of a higher-order function. Don’t worry,

you’ll learn all about them in Chapter 5, “Higher-Order Functions”.

As you’ll see in Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you’re lifting a function to a different

data type: in this case, Writer<A, B> . This allows you to start from a function
f of type Fun<A, B> and lift it to a function of type Writer<A, B> . With
liftW , you can now write the following code:

fun main() {
val shiftLeftAndLog = ::shiftLeft.liftW { a, _ -> // 1
"Shift Left $a"
}
val notAndLog = ::shiftLeft.liftW{ a, _ -> // 2
"Negate $a"
}
val shiftLeftAndNotAndLog = notAndLog after shiftLeftAndLog // 3
println(shiftLeftAndNotAndLog(10).second) // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define shiftLeftAndLog , lifting shiftLeft to a Writer<Int, Int> ,

passing a lambda containing the logic for the creation of the log in
decoration.

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2. Do the same for negate , creating notAndLog .

3. Get shiftLeftAndNotAndLog from the composition of shiftLeftAndLog

and notAndLog .

4. Use shiftLeftAndNotAndLog and print the log in output.

When you run this code, you’ll get exactly the same output you got earlier:

Shift Left 10
Negate 20

You did all this just using pure functions and composition!

Exercise 3.5: The Writer<A, B> data type you defined earlier is a very
important concept in functional programming. If you use types as objects and
the functions Writer<A, B> as morphisms, you get a very special category:
the Kleisli category.

Can you prove that by using types as objects and Writer<A, B> as
morphisms, you get a category? Look back at Chapter 2 if you need a
reminder for how to prove this.

Again, give it a try and check the solution in Appendix C to see how you did.

Challenges
In this chapter, you learned two of the most important concepts in functional
programming: referential transparency and side effects. You also learned how
to recognize a pure function. Now it’s time for a few challenges:

Challenge 1: Pure or impure?

Is inc3 a pure function? Why or why not?

var count = 0
fun inc3(x: Int): Int {
val result = x + ++count + 1
println("Res: $result") // WHAT IF YOU REMOVE THIS?
--count
return result
}

What if you remove the println() with the comment?

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Challenge 2: Pure or impure?

Is output a pure function? Why or why not?

fun output(x: Int): Unit = println("x = $x")

Challenge 3: Pure or impure?

Is randomAdd a pure function? Why or why not?

fun randomAdd(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b + Random.nextInt()

Key points
A function f is pure if its body is a referentially transparent expression
and it doesn’t have side effects.

A pure function always returns the same output values for the same input
values.

A pure function depends only on its input parameters and nothing else.
Pure functions are easy to test and debug.
You can run pure functions in parallel.

Because the output of a pure function for a given input is always the same,
you can evaluate its expression only once and memoize it for following
invocations.

Pure functions are lazy. You can defer their execution until you really need
them.
An expression is referentially transparent if replacing every occurrence in
a program with its value doesn’t alter the behavior of the program itself.
The substitution model is a way to test if an expression is referentially
transparent.
An expression that isn’t referentially transparent is referentially opaque.
If the execution of a function changes the state of the universe, the function is
not pure, and you have side effects.
Side effects aren’t a problem per se, but you need to control them to reduce
the complexity of your program.

The Writer<A, B> data type is an example of how you can control side
effects.

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Using Writer<A, B> as morphisms and types as objects, you define the
Kleisli category.

Where to go from here?

Wow, congrats! In this chapter, you did a lot of work and learned many
fundamental concepts about functions and functional programming in general.
You had the opportunity to see examples of pure and impure functions and
learned how to recognize them using the substitution model. You’ve achieved a
lot already because you’ve encountered side effects for the first time and, with
Writer<A, B> , you’ve seen for the first time how to control and compose
them.

You did a great job, but you’ve still got many concepts to learn — starting with
the concepts of strictness, laziness, immutability and tail recursion. You’ll learn
about how they’re related to functional programming and how they can help
you create better code.

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4 Expression Evaluation,
Laziness & More About
Functions
Written by Massimo Carli

In the previous chapters, you learned that you can define a function as “a bunch
of code that might be executed later”. You also learned several interesting
points:

As a software engineer, you write code and, more specifically, you write
functions.
If the functions you write are pure, their bodies are referentially transparent
expressions.
Executing a function means evaluating the expression in its body.

“Executed later” means the expression of a function is evaluated at a time

that isn’t related to the position of the expression itself.

It’s possible that a function is never executed and the expression never
evaluated.

Evaluation strategy is the relationship between the position where you define
the expression in your code and the point when the expression is actually
evaluated. In this chapter, you’ll learn about two different evaluation strategies:

Applicative-order evaluation

Normal-order evaluation

These two evaluation strategies will lead you to other very important concepts
in this chapter:

The evaluation strategy for Kotlin.

What strictness and laziness mean.

How lambda expressions allow you to execute your code later.
The Kotlin lazy function and how to use it to improve performance.

How to implement memoization for pure functions in Kotlin.

How to implement infinite Stream s of data using lazy functions.

Again, all this uses Kotlin and many engaging exercises and challenges. Open up
the starter project for this chapter to begin!

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Expression evaluation order

As you know, you can write a pure function and execute it much later. Here’s an
example to help you understand how the position of an expression relates to the
time it’s evaluated.

Suppose you want to evaluate the following expression that calculates triple the
average of two values:

3 * avg(x, y)

To represent this expression as a function, write the following code in the

initially empty Evaluation.kt file in this chapter’s material:

fun add(x: Int, y: Int): Int { // 1

val result = x + y
println("add") // 5
return result
}

fun triple(x: Int): Int { // 2

val result = add(add(x, x), x)
println("triple") // 5
return result
}

fun divide(x: Int, y: Int): Int { // 3

val result = x / y
println("divide") // 5
return result
}

fun average(x: Int, y: Int): Int { // 4

val result = divide(add(x, y), 2)
println("average") // 5
return result
}

In this code, you:

1. Create add , which returns the sum of the two input values.

2. Define triple , which uses add twice. This is possible because addition is
associative, as are pure functions. You also know that pure functions and
types create a category, which has associativity by definition.

3. Implement divide , which returns the division between the two input
values. This is a division of Int s, so the result will always round down to a
whole number. In this context, the precision of the function doesn’t really
matter, so that’s OK. :]

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4. Create average , which uses divide and add .

5. All these functions would be pure, but you added some println just to
understand how and, more importantly, when they’re evaluated. It’s
important to note how println follows the evaluation of the expression,
giving evidence of the actual execution.

Now, write and run the following:

fun main() {
triple(average(2, 4))
}

You get the output:

add
divide
average
add
add
triple

At first glance, you see that triple is the function evaluated last.

To understand why, apply the substitution model like this:

triple(average(2, 4)) // 1
triple(divide(add(2, 4), 2)) // 2
triple(divide(2+4, 2))
triple(divide(6, 2)) // 3
triple(6/2)
triple(3)
add(add(3,3), 3) // 4
add(3+3, 3)
add(6, 3) // 5
6+3
9

In the previous representation, you see that you always reduce the expression
that allows you to give the leftmost function all the value it needs. In particular:

1. To resolve triple , Kotlin needs to resolve the expression you pass as an

input parameter: average .
2. Next, you need to evaluate and give divide the value it needs as input: the
sum of 2 and 4 . This is why Kotlin evaluates add(2, 4) first.
3. At this point, divide has all the values it needs, and Kotlin starts the
divide evaluation.

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4. It’s now time to evaluate triple , which needs to evaluate the add you have
as the first input parameter.

5. Finally, you reduce everything to the value 9 , which you can see by printing
the result of the expression using this code:

fun main() {
val result = triple(average(2, 4))
println(result)
}

The previous example proves that in Kotlin, a function’s arguments are

evaluated before the function is applied, which is the definition of applicative-
order evaluation. With applicative-order evaluation, a function executes only
when all the expressions you pass as input parameters are evaluated, starting
from the leftmost parameter.

Note: Another name for Kotlin’s applicative-order evaluation is eager

evaluation.

But is this evaluation strategy good or bad? How would the same expression be
evaluated in the case of normal-order evaluation, and what would the
advantages be? Before exploring that, it’s important to see some more examples.

Applicative-order evaluation examples

You just learned what applicative-order evaluation is, resolving a simple
expression in Kotlin. To better understand what the consequences are, open the
initially empty ApplicativeOrder.kt and write the following code:

fun greaterThan10(x: Int): Boolean { // 1

println("greaterThan10") // 2
return x > 10
}

fun main() {
val inputValue = 3
if (inputValue > 4 && greaterThan10(inputValue * 2)) { // 3
println("OK") // 4
} else {
println("KO") // 4
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define greaterThan10 as a simple function returning a Boolean stating

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whether the input value is greater than 10 .

2. Use println to give some evidence of the invocation of greaterThan10 .

3. Define a simple test to check if the value of a local inputValue variable is
greater than 4 and whether the result of greaterThan10 passing
inputValue * 2 as input is true .

4. Print OK or KO if the test is true or false , respectively.

Run the previous code, and you’ll get:

KO

This is because inputValue isn’t greater than 4 . The interesting part is that
greaterThan10 wasn’t even invoked. The reason is the use of && , which is a
short circuit operator. When you resolve A && B , a false value of A makes
the whole expression false and the evaluation of B would be irrelevant.

Note: The same is true with the || operator. In the case of A || B , a true
value for A would make the whole expression true . The evaluation of B
would then be irrelevant.

Now, change the previous example like the following, assigning 30 to

inputValue and passing it to greaterThan10 :

fun main() {
val inputValue = 30 // HERE
if (inputValue > 4 && greaterThan10(inputValue)) {
println("OK")
} else {
println("KO")
}
}

Run the code and find:

greaterThan10
OK

In this case, inputValue > 4 evaluates to true and && requires the
evaluation of greaterThan10(inputValue) . This is why you see
greaterThan10 as part of the output.

So far, so good. This is how && works. Now, change the previous code like this:

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fun main() {
val inputValue = 3 // 1
val greater10 = greaterThan10(inputValue) // 2
if (inputValue > 4 && greater10) { // 3
println("OK")
} else {
println("KO")
}
}

In this case, you:

1. Use 3 as the initial value for inputValue .

2. Invoke greaterThan10 , passing inputValue as input.

3. Use greater10 in the condition for if .

This is equivalent to the very first example but, when you run the code, you get
the following output:

greaterThan10
KO

The output contains KO , but greaterThan10 has been invoked anyway. This
might look obvious because you evaluate greaterThan10 before the test, and
you don’t know yet if the if condition would require it or not.

However, is it possible to define the invocation of greaterThan10 in the same

position as the last example but then execute it when you actually need it? The
answer is yes, using lazy evaluation with lambda expressions.

Understanding lambda expressions

A lambda expression is simply an anonymous function you can use as a value. This
basically means that:

You can define a lambda expression on the fly, assigning it to a variable.

As you’ll see in detail in Chapter 5, “Higher-Order Functions”, you can use a

lambda expression as an input parameter or the result value of another
function.

You define a lambda expression by adding a normal expression in a code block.

The following is a perfectly valid lambda expression you can find in Lambdas.kt
in this chapter’s material.

val empty = {}

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In the case of an input parameter, you define a lambda expression like the
following:

{ a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }

In this case, you create an anonymous function that returns the sum of two
input parameters of type Int . The result of evaluating a lambda expression is
the value of the last expression in its body, in this case, the sum of a and b .
You separate the input parameters list and the result expression with -> . It’s
important to note that both the input parameter and the result expression are
optional, as you saw in the first example.

Exercise 4.1: Can you write a lambda expression that calculates the distance
between two points given their coordinates, x1, y1 and x2, y2 ? The
formula for the distance between two points is distance = √(x2−x1)²+
(y2−y1)² .

Give it a try, and afterward, check the solution in Appendix D or this chapter’s
challenge project.

Lambda type inference

Type inference is the mechanism a compiler uses to understand the element
types involved in an expression.

When the compiler can’t get all the information it needs about types, you’re
supposed to help. You can give the compiler the information it needs in
different ways. In the previous code, you helped the Kotlin compiler by adding
explicit type information for a and b . The Kotlin compiler then understands
that a and b are Int s, and the result of the lambda expression will also be
Int because of the type of the result of a + b .

The following code would give a compilation error because the Kotlin compiler
wouldn’t know the types for a and b .

val lambda = { a, b -> a + b }

You can use a lambda expression as a normal value. This means you can assign
it to a variable, like in the following example:

var operation = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }

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In this case, you assign a lambda expression to a variable operation . The

compiler infers for operation the type (Int, Int) -> Int , which is the type
of any function with two input parameters of type Int returning another Int .
Another way to give the compiler the information it needs is:

var operation: (Int, Int) -> Int = { a, b -> a + b }

By defining operation of type (Int, Int) -> Int , you’re telling the Kotlin
compiler the type of values you can assign to it. Because { a, b -> a + b } is
compatible with the type of operation , the compiler infers an Int type for a
and b and also verifies the return type. In this case, the Kotlin compiler
inferred the type of the input parameters a and b from the type of
operation you defined explicitly.

Exercise 4.2: What’s the type for the lambda expression you wrote in
Exercise 4.1?

Again, give it a try and check the solution in Appendix D or the challenge
project.

The type of a lambda expression is then a function type, meaning the

following code is perfectly legal:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

val multiplyBy2: Fun<Int, Int> = { x -> 2 * x }

Exercise 4.3: What are the types of the following lambda expressions?

val emptyLambda = {} // 1
val helloWorldLambda = { "Hello World!" } // 2
val helloLambda = { name: String -> "Hello $name!" } // 3
val nothingLambda = { TODO("Do exercise 4.3!") } // 4

Can you write an example of a lambda expression of the following type?

typealias AbsurdType = (Nothing) -> Nothing

In this case, can you show how to invoke it?

Try to answer without the support of IntelliJ, and check your solutions in
Appendix D or the challenge project.

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Lambda expression evaluation

A lambda expression allows you to define an expression without actually
resolving it. Consider the following definition:

var operation = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }

Here, you’re defining a lambda expression that describes how to calculate the
addition of two Int s, but you’re not actually running it. This is the beauty of
lambda expressions: They allow you to describe code you’ll execute later with
the advantage that you can treat them as data. You can handle the value 2 and
the lambda operation as values exactly the same way. You can treat them as
input parameters and return values of functions.

Eventually, you might need to execute or resolve the lambda expression. How
can you do that? And, in that case, what would the final result be?

As mentioned earlier, a lambda expression is a function type. This means you

can execute it like any other function. For instance, in the previous example,
add the following to Lambdas.kt:

fun main() {
val result = operation(3, 4)
println(result)
}

Running this code, you get:

You can achieve the same thing using invoke like this:

fun main() {
val result = operation.invoke(3, 4)
println(result)
}

The value you get resolving a lambda expression is the value of the last
expression in its body. Consider the following code:

val testLambda = { a: Int ->

val doubleA = a * 2
if (doubleA > 10) "$doubleA is Greater than 10"
else "$doubleA is Smaller or Equal to 10"
}
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In this example, the if expression is the last in the body of testLambda .

Note: You’ll see much more about this in Chapter 5, “Higher-Order

Functions”.

More about lambda expressions

You’ll see much more about lambda expressions in the following chapters of
this book. Here, it’s helpful to provide some useful and interesting information
about:

Lambda type inheritance

Generic lambda expressions

Lambda type inheritance

In the previous paragraphs, you learned that the type of a lambda expression is
a function type. In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned that a type
is a way to represent the set of all possible values. For instance, with Int , you
represent the set of all the possible integer values — or, at least, the ones you can
represent in Kotlin. When you define operation like this:

var operation: (Int, Int) -> Int = { a, b -> a + b }

What are the actual lambdas you can assign to it? Only the ones of type (Int,
Int) -> Int ? In this case, the answer is yes. You can only assign functions of
that type to operation because Int is final, but this isn’t always the case.

Note: Saying that Int is final means the Int class can’t be extended.

Suppose you have the following types:

class A
class B

Now, suppose you define the following function type:

typealias LambdaType = (A) -> B

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LambdaType is the type of generic function from A to B . This means you can
write the following code, which is perfectly legal:

var lambda: LambdaType = { a -> B() }

Now, suppose you have the following new types:

class C
class D

What relation do these new types need to have with the previous A and B to
make the following definition valid?

lambda = { c: C -> D() }

At the moment, the compiler is complaining because C isn’t an A and D isn’t

a B . You basically need to make the function type (C) -> D a subtype of (A)
-> B .

To fix this, you need to create the following relations you can visualize in Figure
4.1:

class A : C()
open class C
class D : B()
open class B

Figure 4.1: Lambda types inheritance

This means LambdaType is contravariant for the input type and covariant for
the output type.

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Note: Variance is a crucial concept when working with generic types. Given a
hierarchy relation between two types, A and B , it describes the relation
between F<A> and F<B> . Here, F is a data type you represent using
generic types like List<T> , Set<T> and others. Using this terminology:

You have covariance when given B IS-A A entails that F<B> IS-A F<A> .
When given B IS-A A entails that F<A> IS-A F<B> , you have
contravariance.
When given B IS-A A entails nothing about F<A> and F<B> , you have
invariance.\

To give a quick example, if Triangle IS-A Shape entails that

List<Triangle> IS-A List<Shape> , you say that List<T> is covariant.

Generic lambda expressions

You might be wondering about the difference between a normal function and a
lambda expression. For instance, what’s the difference between the function:

fun add(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b

And the following lambda expression?

val sum = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }

Well, in this specific example, there’s no difference — but consider the following
case instead:

interface Combinable<A> { // 1
fun combine(rh: A): A
}

fun <A : Combinable<A>> combine(lh: A, rh: A): A = lh.combine(rh)

// 2

In this case, you define:

1. The Combinable<A> interface, which defines combine . combine returns

the combination of two objects of the same type A .

2. The combine function, which appends two input Combinable<A> objects

into another Combinable<A> . This is a generic function in the type A with
the constraint of considering only Combinable<A> objects.

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How would you represent combine(lh: A, rh: A) using a lambda expression?
Unfortunately, the following definition wouldn’t work:

val combineLambda = { lh: A, rh: A -> lh.combine(rh) } // ERROR

You can’t define a generic lambda expression the same way you do for a normal
generic function. You might try to solve this problem with the following code:

typealias CombineLambdaType<A> =
(Combinable<A>, Combinable<A>) -> Combinable<A> // 1

val combineLambda: CombineLambdaType<A> = // 2

{ lh: A, rh: A -> lh.combine(rh) } // ERROR

In this case, you:

1. Define the typealias CombineLambdaType<A> as a function from two

Combinable<A> to a single Combinable<A> .

2. Use CombineLambdaType<A> , trying to infer the parameter type to the

lambda.

This doesn’t work because you wouldn’t be able to set the constraint on the type
A .

In short, you can’t define a lambda expression on a generic type. This is why
expressing combine(lh: A, rh: A) using a lambda expression won’t work. It’s
the consequence of the fact that lambda expressions are like values, and you
can’t define a value of a generic type A .

Lazy evaluation
Now that you know almost everything about lambda expressions in Kotlin, you
can return to the following example you already wrote in ApplicativeOrder.kt.
Next, copy it into LazyEvaluation.kt, using the same greaterThan10 :

fun main() {
val inputValue = 3
val greater10 = greaterThan10(inputValue)
if (inputValue > 4 && greater10) {
println("OK")
} else {
println("KO")
}
}

As you remember, if you run the code, you get:

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greaterThan10
KO

How can you keep the same layout and evaluate greaterThan10 only when you
really need to? Now you know the answer: Use a lambda expression. Just
replace the previous code with the following:

fun main() {
val inputValue = 3
val greater10 = { greaterThan10(inputValue) } // 1
if (inputValue > 4 && greater10()) { // 2
println("OK")
} else {
println("KO")
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Replace greaterThan10 with a lambda expression you saved in greater10 .

2. Invoke greater10 only if necessary.

Run the code, and you get:

KO

Running the same code after changing inputValue ’s value to 30 , you get:

greaterThan10
OK

What you implemented using a lambda expression is called lazy evaluation.

Lazy evaluation means resolving an expression only when you actually need it.

Exercise 4.4: Can you implement a function simulating the short-circuit and
operator with the following signature without using && ? In other words, can
you replicate the short-circuiting behavior of left && right :

fun shortCircuitAnd(left: () -> Boolean, right: () ->

Boolean): Boolean

Can you also write a test to prove that right evaluates only if left is false?

Try to answer without the support of IntelliJ, and check your solutions in
Appendix D or the challenge project.
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Kotlin lazy delegate

Kotlin allows you to implement lazy evaluation using the… lazy delegate. :]
Before understanding how lazy works, it’s useful to look at the by keyword.
The Kotlin keyword by allows you to control the access to a variable, delegating
getters and setters to the object you use as the target of the delegation: the
delegatee. You call this property delegation.

To understand how it works, write the following code in Lazy.kt:

fun testDelegate() {
var variable by object { // 1

var localInt: Int? = null

operator fun getValue( // 2

thisRef: Any?,
property: KProperty<*>
): Int? {
println("Getter Invoked returning $localInt")
return localInt
}

operator fun setValue( // 3

thisRef: Any?,
property: KProperty<*>,
value: Int?
) {
println("Setter Invoked with value $value")
localInt = value
}
}
variable = 10 // 4
println("Reading $variable") // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Use by to delegate variable ’s access to a generic object.

2. Implement getValue , which is invoked every time you access variable .

3. Implement setValue , which is invoked every time you set a value to
variable .

4. Assign the 10 value to variable .

5. Access variable and print its value.

This is why, running testDelegate() , you get the following output:

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Setter Invoked with value 10

Getter Invoked returning 10
Reading 10

Now that you know how by works, just write the following code:

fun main() {
val inputValue = 30
val greater10 by lazy { greaterThan10(inputValue) } // 1
if (inputValue > 4 && greater10) { // 2
println("OK")
} else {
println("KO")
}
}

In this code, note that you:

1. Use the Kotlin keyword by to delegate the access to the greater10 variable
to the object you get by invoking lazy . You pass to lazy the lambda
function you want to eventually execute for greater10 initialization.
2. Just access greater10 in the if condition.

Running the previous main , you get:

greaterThan10
OK

Change the inputValue to 3 , and you get:

KO

This is what you’re expecting, but lazy gives you something more. Add the
following code to Lazy.kt:

fun multiLazy() {
val multiLambda by lazy { println("I'm MultiLambda") }
multiLambda
multiLambda
multiLambda
multiLambda
}

In this code, you:

1. Use lazy with a lambda expression containing the println of a message.

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2. Access multiLambda multiple times.

When you run multiLazy , you get:

I'm MultiLambda

This is cool! The lambda expression you pass as a parameter to lazy is

evaluated just once, and its result is reused when accessed again.

Of course, in this example, you use a println to prove that behavior, but if it
doesn’t have any side effects or the expression takes some time, lazy is very
useful. In this way, you achieved memoization, which you’ll learn about next.

Exercise 4.5: Can you implement the function myLazy with the following
signature, which allows you to pass in a lambda expression and execute it
just once?

fun <A: Any> myLazy(fn: () -> A): () -> A // ???

Try to answer without the support of IntelliJ, and check your solutions in
Appendix D or the challenge project.

Memoization
In the previous chapter, you learned that a pure function always produces the
same result for the same input values, a concept known as referential
transparency. A pure function also doesn’t have any side effects, and this
makes it idempotent. Because of this, you don’t need to run the same pure
function multiple times! You simply run it once and store the result for later
invocations, saving time at the cost of some memory. Of course, the advantage is
bigger if the computation takes some time.

You already learned how to implement memoization with Kotlin using the
lazy function. It would be a good exercise to implement memoization for any
function of type Fun<A, B> . How would you implement it?

Note: You can try to solve this problem on your own as a fun exercise before
looking at the proposed solution. :]

Open the initially empty Memoization.kt file and write the following code:

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fun <A, B> Fun<A, B>.memo(): Fun<A, B> { // 1
val cache by lazy { mutableMapOf<A, B>() } // 2
return { a: A -> // 3
val cached = cache[a] // 4
if (cached == null) {
cache[a] = this(a)
}
cache[a]!! // 5
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define memo as an extension function for Fun<A, B> . The return type is
still Fun<A, B> . Remember Fun<A, B> is an alias of the type (A) -> B .

2. Use lazy to define MutableMap<A, B> , which will store the values to cache.
In this case, lazy allows you to create just one instance of the cache in a
lazy way.

3. Return a lambda accepting a parameter of type A . This is a lambda of type

Fun<A, B> .

4. Check in the cache to see if you already have a result for the given input a .
If not, you invoke the function and store the result.
5. Now you have the result, cached or not, to return.

To test this function, write this simple code:

fun main() {
val testFunction = { a: Int -> println("Evaluating... $a"); a * 2
} // 1
println("Running testFunction 4 times")
testFunction(2) // 2
testFunction(2)
testFunction(2)
testFunction(3)
val memoTestingFunction = testFunction.memo() // 3
println("Running memoTestingFunction 4 times")
memoTestingFunction(2) // 4
memoTestingFunction(2)
memoTestingFunction(2)
memoTestingFunction(3)
}

In this code, you:

1. Define a simple testFunction that returns double the input Int , printing
a message to give evidence of the actual invocation.

2. Invoke testFunction four times. The first three times, you use the input
2 , passing 3 instead in the last invocation.

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3. Use memo to get the memoized version of testFunction you save in
memoTestingFunction .

4. Invoke memoTestingFunction four times using the same parameters you

used earlier for testFunction .

Run the code, and you get:

Running testFunction 4 times

Evaluating... 2
Evaluating... 2
Evaluating... 2
Evaluating... 3
Running memoTestingFunction 4 times
Evaluating... 2
Evaluating... 3

As you see, you have an output message every time you invoke testFunction .
When you invoke memoTestingFunction , you have a message only the first time
you pass a specific input value. This is exactly what you expect from memo .

Create a lazy stream with Kotlin

You learned that a lambda expression allows you to run some code — or
evaluate some expression — later. This makes lambda expressions perfect for
generating some sequences of values. Suppose you want to create a function
returning the first N even numbers. A first, eager solution is the following. Add
this to Stream.kt:

fun eagerEvenSequence(n: Int): List<Int> = List(n) { i -> i * 2 }

In this simple function, you create a List<Int> using the constructor List
provides. It requires the size of the List and a lambda expression invoked
for each element, which returns the value given its index. So far, so good. This
solution has some problems, though:

1. The eagerEvenSequence function returns a List with all the values you
might need. Here, the “might” is important because you might not need all of
them.

2. If you just need the last value, you have to get the complete List first
anyway.
3. If you need more values, you must invoke eagerEvenSequence with a new
input value.

You can see all this by running the following code:

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fun main() {
println(eagerEvenSequence(5))
}

The output is:

[0, 2, 4, 6, 8]

In this case, the example is very simple, but in other cases, it might be useful to
get a value of the sequence only if you really need it and when you really need it.

Next, add the following code to the same Stream.kt file:

fun evenPositiveStream(): () -> Int { // 1

var count = -2 // 2
return { count += 2; count } // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define evenPositiveStream as a function returning another function of

type () -> Int , which provides an even Int value every time you invoke
it.

2. Initialize count to -2 . This weird initial value allows you to make the
following line shorter and still return 0 as the first value after you add 2 .

3. You return a lambda expression that adds 2 to count and returns the new
value.

You can test the previous code by adding this to the same file:

fun main() {
val evenSequence = evenPositiveStream() // 1
5.times { // 2
println(evenSequence())
}
}

In main , you:

1. Create evenSequence , invoking evenPositiveStream .

2. Use the times utility function you find in Utils.kt to invoke evenSequence
five times.

The output you get is:

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0
2
4
6
8

More importantly:

1. You can persist the values of the sequence only if you really need them.
2. If you need more values, just invoke evenSequence more times.

Note: You might argue that in the case of eagerEvenSequence , you could just
return double the input parameter. This is true, but, as the next exercise
proves, you’re not always so lucky. :]

This is a very simple example of how lazy evaluation with lambda expressions
allows you to create sequences in an optimal way.

Exercise 4.6: Can you create a function fibo returning the values of a
Fibonacci sequence? Remember, every value in a Fibonacci sequence is the
sum of the previous two elements. The first two elements are 0 and 1 . The
first values are, then:

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 ...

Try to answer without the support of IntelliJ, and check your solutions in
Appendix D or the challenge project.

Normal-order evaluation

Note: The following two sections are optional. They give you some
information about the normal-order evaluation used by languages like
Haskell, in case you’re curious to know more. If you’re not curious, you can
skip right to the challenges.

At the beginning of the chapter, you learned that Kotlin evaluates all
expressions using applicative-order evaluation. This means it evaluates the
expressions you pass as input parameters of a function before the function
itself. After that, you also learned that Kotlin allows you to implement lazy
evaluation using lambda expressions. Some other languages, like Haskell, use

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normal-order evaluation instead. But what does that mean, and is it possible to
simulate normal-order evaluation with Kotlin?

Normal-order evaluation always reduces the leftmost, outermost reducible

function expression. This means you evaluate the function before the
expression you pass as a parameter to the same function. Kotlin doesn’t have
applicative-order evaluation like Haskell, but with lazy evaluation, you can
achieve something similar. Suppose you want to reduce the same function you
saw at the beginning of the chapter:

3 * avg(x, y)

You want to evaluate the function before the expression you pass as a
parameter. Open NormalOrder.kt and add the following:

fun addL(x: () -> Int, y: () -> Int): () -> Int {

return { println("addL"); x() + y() }
}

addL has some interesting things to note:

The input parameters are not executed expressions but lazily executable
lambda expressions.
You don’t evaluate the expression you use as the input parameter before the
evaluation of addL but as part of it.

You use println to have evidence of addL .

The function returns a lambda expression.

You can now apply the same logic to the following functions. Add these to the
same NormalOrder.kt file:

fun tripleL(x: () -> Int): () -> Int {

return { println("tripleL"); addL(addL(x, x), x)() }
}

fun divideL(x: () -> Int, y: () -> Int): () -> Int {

return { println("divideL"); x() / y() }
}

fun averageL(x: () -> Int, y: () -> Int): () -> Int {

return { println("averageL"); divideL(addL(x, y), { 2 })() }
}

For testing its behavior, add the following main :

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fun main() {
tripleL(averageL({ 2 }, { 4 }))()
}

When you run the previous code, you get:

tripleL
addL
addL
averageL
divideL
addL
averageL
divideL
addL
averageL
divideL
addL

Try to mimic this by applying the substitution model. In this case, you have a
longer sequence than you did earlier in this chapter because you evaluate the
external function on the left first.

tripleL(averageL({2},{4}))()
addL(addL(averageL({2},{4})),averageL({2},{4}))),averageL({2},
{4})))()
addL({averageL({2},{4})()+averageL({2},{4})()}(),averageL({2},{4}))
()
{{averageL({2},{4})()+averageL({2},{4})()}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()
{{{divideL(addL({2},{4}),2)}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()+averageL({2},
{4})()}()
{{addL({2},{4})()/2}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()+averageL({2},{4})()}
()
{{addL({2},{4})()/2}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()+averageL({2},{4})()}
()
{{(2+4)/2}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{{divideL(addL({2},{4}),2)}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{addL({2},{4})()/2}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{(2+4)/2}()+averageL({2},{4})()}()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{(2+4)/2}()+{{divideL(addL({2},{4}),2)}()}()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{(2+4)/2}()+{addL({2},{4})()/2}() }()
{{(2+4)/2}()+{(2+4)/2}()+{(2+4)/2}()}()
{3+3+3}()
{9}()

As you can see, the leftmost function is the one you’re evaluating in each step.

Applicative-order vs. normal-order evaluations

Looking at the previous examples and considering how Kotlin works, you
understand how lazy evaluation is a balanced compromise between applicative-
order and normal-order evaluation strategies. It allows you to control where to

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define your expression and when to evaluate it. If you use the Kotlin lazy
function, you also get the benefit of memoization, which is very good in the case
of expensive — and pure — functions.

In particular, using the Kotlin lazy function, you get three different
synchronization modes for free through the LazyThreadSafetyMode enum
class. With this, you can decide how a lazy instance synchronizes initialization
among multiple threads. Possible values are:

SYNCHRONIZED: The initialization is safe because only a single thread at a

time can access the lambda expression you pass as a parameter. This is the
default mode.

PUBLICATION: The lambda expression you pass as a parameter can be

evaluated several times on concurrent access to an uninitialized lazy
instance value. However, only the first returned value will be used as the
actual value.

NONE: The lambda expression can be evaluated multiple times from

different threads, and its behavior is undefined.

In the last example, you might have the impression that normal-order evaluates
the same expressions multiple times, which is a problem that lazy evaluation
solves elegantly. On the other hand, applicative-order evaluation doesn’t always
work well with recursion. If the function you pass as a parameter is recursive, it
might not end. Or the expression could never return, like in this example you
can write in EvalExamples.kt:

fun neverEnding(): Int { // 1

while (true){}
}

fun double(x: Int): Int = x + x // 2

fun main() {
double(neverEnding()) // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define neverEnding using an infinite loop as a function that never returns.

2. Create double as a simple function returning the double of its input
parameter.

3. Define main , which simply uses neverEnding invocation as an input

parameter of double .

Run this code, and the program will never complete.

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Challenges
In this chapter, you learned many important concepts about expression
evaluation, lambda functions and lazy evaluation. You’ve already done some
interesting exercises, but here you have some additional challenges. Have fun! :]

Challenge 1: Handling nullability

In Exercise 4.5, you created myLazy , which allowed you to implement
memoization for a generic lambda expression of type () -> A . Can you now
create myNullableLazy , supporting optional types with the following
signature?

fun <A> myNullableLazy(fn: () -> A?): () -> A? // ...

Challenge 2: Functions and set again

You might be aware of Euler’s number e. It’s a mathematical constant of huge
importance that you can calculate in very different ways. It’s an irrational
number like pi that can’t be represented in the form n/m . Here, you’re not
required to know what it is, but you can use the following formula:

Figure 4.2: Euler's formula

Can you create a sequence that provides the sum of the n terms of the given
formula?

Key points
You define evaluation strategy as the relationship between the point in your
code where you define your expression and the point when the expression is
actually evaluated.
With applicative-order evaluation, a function is executed only when all the
expressions you pass as input parameters are evaluated, starting from the
leftmost parameter.
A lambda expression is an anonymous function you can use as a value.

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Type inference is the mechanism a compiler uses to understand the
element types involved in an expression.

The type of lambda expression is a function type.

A lambda expression is contravariant for the input type and covariant for
the output type.

Memoization is the process that allows you to save the result of a function in
memory to reuse it more efficiently.
Pure functions can always be memoized.

Pure evaluation allows you to easily implement infinite sequences of values

in a very efficient way.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! You’ve completed another challenging chapter about
expression evaluation and lambda functions. You had the chance to solve some
fun exercises, and you’ve already started implementing some higher-order
functions — which is the topic of the next chapter. See you there. :]

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5 Higher-Order Functions
Written by Massimo Carli

In the previous chapters, you learned that a lambda expression is basically a

function that can be used as a value. This means you can define a lambda
expression and assign it to a variable. More importantly, you can pass a lambda
expression as an input parameter or return the value of another function.
Passing lambdas as parameters describes higher-order functions, which are
the main topic of this chapter.

Here, you’ll learn:

The difference between an imperative and declarative approach.

What higher-order functions are.

What a functional interface is and what SAM means.
Why interfaces with a single operation are fundamental in functional
programming.

How inline works when using higher-order functions.

You’ll learn all this while using the Kotlin language and solving some fun
exercises. Open up the starter project for this chapter in IntelliJ and keep
reading.

Imperative vs. declarative approach

Before diving into the study of higher-order functions in Kotlin, it’s important
to mention why they’re fundamental and why you should use them. One of the
main reasons is that higher-order functions allow you to write your code in a
declarative way.

But what does that mean? An example will make things easier.

Consider the following list of email address candidates that you’ll find in
Imperative.kt in this chapter’s material:

val emails = listOf(

"email@emmmaail.com",
"max@fgh.it",
"hsajdkjshh",
"mike@mcarli.it",
"first.second@ggg.com",
"test@test.co.uk",

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"12345@qqq.com",
"123.45",
"12345@a.b.c.d",
"fp_is_great@funprog.com",
"aaaaaaaaa.bbbbb@cccc.com",
"aaaaaaacccc.com",
"valid@jjjj.lll",
)

Now, suppose you want to write a function that:

1. Filters invalid email addresses.

2. Uses only email addresses with more than 10 characters.

3. Takes just the first five valid email addresses.

A first approach is the imperative one. In the same Imperative.kt file, write the
following code:

fun imperative(emails: List<String>): List<String> = // 1

mutableListOf<String>() // 2
.apply {
for (email in emails) { // 3
if (EMAIL_REG_EX.matches(email) && email.length > 10) { //
4
add(email)
if (size >= 5) { // 5
break
}
}
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define imperative as a function that returns the first five valid email
addresses longer than 10 characters.

2. Initialize the List you’ll return as the result.

3. Iterate over all the email addresses in input.

4. Check if the email is valid using the available regular expression

EMAIL_REG_EX . Here, you also check if the email has a minimum length of
over 10.

5. Stop when it gets 5 email addresses.

Now, add and run this:

fun main() {
println(imperative(emails))
}

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And you get the following output:

[email@emmmaail.com, mike@mcarli.it, first.second@ggg.com,

test@test.co.uk, fp_is_great@funprog.com]

This is an example of an imperative approach or algorithmic programming.

Here, you write the code specifying the steps the computer must take to
accomplish the goal. In this case, you’re telling the computer exactly what steps
to execute in a language it understands. If you want to change the criteria for
filtering the emails, you need to first digest the code, apply the changes and
update the unit tests. In this case, the goal you want to achieve is simple, but in
many other cases, this could be a problem.

Note: For an even more imperative approach, you can replace the enhanced
for loop:

for (email in emails){...}

With:

for (i in 0 until email.size){

val email = emails[i]
// ...
}

The declarative approach is closer to how humans think. Now, add the following
code to Declarative.kt:

fun declarative(emails: List<String>): List<String> = // 1

emails
.filter { EMAIL_REG_EX.matches(it) } // 2
.filter { it.length > 10 } // 3
.take(5) // 4

In this case, you:

1. Define declarative with the same signature as imperative .

2. Use filter to remove the invalid email addresses.
3. Use filter again to remove email addresses shorter than or equal to 10
characters.

4. Take the first 5 email addresses using take .

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Now, add and run the following code:

fun main() {
println(declarative(emails))
}

And you get exactly the same output:

[email@emmmaail.com, mike@mcarli.it, first.second@ggg.com,

test@test.co.uk, fp_is_great@funprog.com]

When you look at the code, you realize it’s just a description of the steps you
want to do, which follows the initial requirements. You take five email addresses
from the ones you filtered because they matched the email regular expression
and were longer than 10 characters. You might already see some of the
declarative approach’s advantages, but you can do even better than this.

Code readability
The declarative approach improves code readability. In the same Declarative.kt
file, add the following code:

fun isEmailValid(email: String) = // 1

EMAIL_REG_EX.matches(email)

fun isEmailLongEnough(email: String) = // 2

email.length > 10

fun moreDeclarative(emails: List<String>): List<String> =

emails
.filter(::isEmailValid) // 3
.filter(::isEmailLongEnough) // 4
.take(5)

In this case, you:

1. Define isEmailValid , which is a pure function that checks if the input

email address is valid.
2. Create isEmailLongEnough to check the length of the email address.

3. Use the reference ::isEmailValid as the parameter of the first filter .

4. Use ::isEmailLongEnough as the parameter of the second filter .

This is so declarative that you can read the code as if it were in normal, spoken
English. You basically:

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filter the valid emails
filter the emails that are long enough
take 5 of them

filter is a perfect example of a higher-order function, because it’s a function

that accepts another function as an input parameter. Look at the source code
for filter , and you’ll find the following:

public inline fun <T> Iterable<T>.filter(

predicate: (T) -> Boolean
): List<T> {
return filterTo(ArrayList<T>(), predicate)
}

Besides the implementation details, it’s important to see how:

1. It’s an extension function for Iterable<T> .

2. The input parameter is a predicate of type (T) -> Boolean . As you learned
in Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, a predicate is any function that
returns a Boolean . In this case, the predicate is a lambda accepting an
object of type T as input, which is the type parameter for Iterable<T> .

In the rest of the book, you’ll see many examples of this, and you’ll see how
functional programming and the declarative approach get along. :]

Higher-order functions
By now you should know what a higher-order function is — you’ve already
written some of them. The most important one you saw in Chapter 2, “Function
Fundamentals” is:

inline infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<B, C>.after(

crossinline f: Fun<A, B>
): Fun<A, C> = { a: A ->
this(f(a)) // HERE
}

This is an extension function on Fun<B, C> , which receives as input another

function of type Fun<A, B> and returns a function of type Fun<A, C> , which
is the composition of the two.

In this next section, you’ll see some more examples of higher-order functions,
which:

Accept a lambda expression as input.

Return a lambda expression as an output value.

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Use lambda expressions as input and as output values.

You’ll also make everything fun with some nice exercises.

Accepting a lambda expression as input

You’ve already met one example of a higher-order function accepting a lambda
expression as input. Now to write more. Open SimpleHoF.kt in the material for
this project, and write the following code:

fun Int.times(fn: (Int) -> Unit) = (1..this).forEach(fn)

This function executes the lambda the provided number of times. In this code,
you define:

times as an extension function for the Int type.

fn as an input parameter of type (Int) -> Unit , which is invoked the

number of times described by the receiver. Remember that, in this case, the
receiver is the Int value you invoke times on. In the case of 10.times{} ,
the receiver is 10 .

The range as 1..this , and you iterate over it using forEach to execute
fn that number of times.

You can test how times works by adding and running this:

fun main() {
10.times {
print(" $it")
}
}

The output you get is:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

You probably think that, with the previous code, you cheated a little bit. :]
forEach is another higher-order function Kotlin provides as an extension
function for Iterable<T> , like the filter you met earlier:

public inline fun <T> Iterable<T>.forEach(action: (T) -> Unit):

Unit {
for (element in this) action(element)
}

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OK, assuming you don’t want to use an existing higher-order function, you can
replace the previous implementation with the following imperative-ish code:

fun Int.times(fn: (Int) -> Unit) {

var i = 1
while (i <= this) {
fn(i++)
}
}

When you run main , you get the same output:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Exercise 5.1: Kotlin provides you with first , which returns the first
element of Iterable<T> for which a predicate you provide in input evaluates
to true . Remember that Iterable<T> is the abstraction of all the collections
providing Iterator<T> implementation.

public interface Iterable<out T> {

public operator fun iterator(): Iterator<T>
}

Iterator<T> allows you to iterate over all the elements of a collection in a

way that doesn’t depend on the collection implementation itself:

public interface Iterator<out T> {

public operator fun next(): T

public operator fun hasNext(): Boolean

}

The current first signature is:

public inline fun <T> Iterable<T>.first(predicate: (T) ->

Boolean): T

Kotlin doesn’t allow you to override the current extension function on

Iterable<T> . So, how would you implement first on Array<T> ?

The current implementation of first throws an exception if the collection is

empty, so there’s no first T . How would you implement the function
firstOrNull on Array<T> returning null in such a case?

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Give it a try and check the challenge project or Appendix E to see how you
did.

Implementing the strategy pattern in a functional way

Hey, isn’t this a book about functional programming? What does the strategy
pattern have to do with this? As you know, design patterns describe a general
and reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context.
In particular, the strategy pattern is a behavioral pattern that defines a family of
algorithms, encapsulates each one and makes them interchangeable. Sorting is
a typical example. Open Strategy.kt and write the following code:

fun bubbleSort(values: IntArray) {

for (i in values.size - 1 downTo 0) {
for (j in 0 until i) {
if (values[j] > values[j + 1]) {
swap(values, j, j + 1)
}
}
}
}

This function sorts an input IntArray using the bubble sort. Understanding
how it’s sorting is less important here than knowing that it’s sorting Int s.
Note, the swap function is already available in Util.kt.

You can test how it works by executing the following:

fun main() {
val array = intArrayOf(10, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3)
bubbleSort(array)
array.printAll()
}

printAll is a function in Util.kt. Run this code, and you get what you expect:

2 3 5 7 8 10

It’s important to note that you can use the bubble sort to sort anything, not just
Int . What you need is just a way to understand when a value is greater than
another value of the same type. How, then, can you abstract bubbleSort so you
can use it with any array of values of type T ?

Note: The bubble sort definitely isn’t the most performant sorting algorithm.
It’s used here because it does not need a lot of code.

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Note: If you want to learn more about algorithm and data structures in Kotlin,
Data Structures & Algorithms in Kotlin is the best choice.

To solve this problem, you need to:

Make bubbleSort generic.

Provide bubbleSort what it’s missing: a way to understand if one T is

greater than another T .

In the same file, replace the previous code with the following:

fun <T> bubbleSort(

values: Array<T>, // 1
isLarger: (T, T) -> Boolean // 2
) {
for (i in values.size - 1 downTo 0) {
for (j in 0 until i) {
if (isLarger(values[j], values[j + 1])) { // 3
swap(values, j, j + 1) // 4
}
}
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define bubbleSort as a generic function with the type variable T .

2. Pass the strategy as a lambda function of type (T, T) -> Boolean , which
returns true if the first value is greater than the second.

3. Use the isLarger lambda expression to compare each pair of values in the
array.
4. Swap the values, if needed, using the swap overload you find in Util.kt.

To test the previous code, write:

fun main() {
val array = arrayOf(10, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3)
bubbleSort(array) { first, second ->
first > second
}
array.printAll()
}

Run this code, and you again get:

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2 3 5 7 8 10

Exercise 5.2: The command pattern is another important design pattern

that defines abstractions like Command and CommandExecutor . Command
abstracts every possible operation that CommandExecutor can run. In other
words, a Command represents a task and you can pass a Command to a
CommandExecutor to run it. How would you represent them in a functional
way?

Optionally, can you also provide a way to “redo” the most recent Command ?

Functional interfaces
In the previous chapters, you learned the concept of function type. If you
consider the previous strategy pattern example, you could’ve defined the type
for the predicate parameter using typealias , like this:

typealias IsLarger<T> = (T, T) -> Boolean

With this, the bubble sort example would become:

fun <T> bubbleSort(

values: Array<T>,
isLarger: IsLarger<T> // HERE
) {
for (i in values.size - 1 downTo 0) {
for (j in 0 until i) {
if (isLarger(values[j], values[j + 1])) {
swap(values, j, j + 1)
}
}
}
}

As you learned in Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, a function type is

basically a way to represent a function in terms of:

Input parameters and their type

Return type

With (T, T) -> Boolean , you’re basically representing the type of all the
functions with two parameters of type T returning a Boolean . With the
typealias keyword, you just gave that type the name IsLarger<T> .

Kotlin allows you to do something similar with functional interfaces. You find

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the same concept with the acronym SAM, which stands for single abstract
method. For instance, open FunctionalInterface.kt and write the following
definition:

fun interface IsLarger<T> { // 1

fun isLarger(a: T, b: T): Boolean // 2
}

In this case, you:

1. Use the fun keyword as a qualifier for the IsLarger<T> interface.

2. Define isLarger as the only abstract function for the functional interface.

Using the previous definition, you can add the following code to the same file:

fun <T> bubbleSortFI( // 1

values: Array<T>,
largerStrategy: IsLarger<T> // 2
) {
for (i in values.size - 1 downTo 0) {
for (j in 0 until i) {
if (largerStrategy.isLarger(values[j], values[j + 1])) { // 3
swap(values, j, j + 1)
}
}
}
}

In this case, you:

1. Create bubbleSortFI as a new version of the previous bubbleSort .

2. Define the strategy as a parameter of type IsLarger<T> .

3. Invoke isLarger , which is the operation you defined in IsLarger<T> .

Now, you can test bubbleSortFI in two different ways:

Using IsLarger<T> as a normal lambda expression.

Creating an IsLarger<T> implementation instance.

It’s useful to look at both.

Functional interface as a lambda expression

Because you defined IsLarger<T> as a functional interface, you can use the
same syntax you’d use with lambda expressions. Add the following code to the
same FunctionalInterface.kt file:

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fun main() {
val array = arrayOf(10, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3)
bubbleSortFI(array) { first, second -> // HERE
first > second
}
array.printAll()
}

Here, you pass the parameter of type IsLarger<T> as a normal lambda

expression the same way you did when using typealias .

Functional interface instances

Again, because you defined IsLarger<T> as a functional interface, Kotlin
provides a very handy syntax in case you want to create an implementation
instance of the fly. Replace the previous code in FunctionalInterface.kt with:

fun main() {
val array = arrayOf(10, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3)
val largerStrategy = IsLarger<Int> { first, second -> // HERE
first > second
}
bubbleSortFI(array, largerStrategy)
array.printAll()
}

Like in the previous example, although IsLarger<T> is an interface, you can

quickly create an implementation instance using a syntax like:

FunctionInterfaceType { /* Lambda expression for the SAM */}

So, what’s the difference between the definition of a function type using
typealias and a functional interface?

Functional interface vs. typealias

It’s crucial to note how typealias doesn’t introduce a new type at all. It just
allows you to give a different name to an existing type. On the other hand, when
you define a functional interface, you’re creating a new type.

Note: Remember that typealias definitions aren’t visible from Java.

The difference between a simple interface and a functional interface is the

presence of a single abstract method (SAM), which you provide using the same
syntax you use for lambda expressions.

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To better understand their differences, open FunctionalVsLambda.kt and add

the following code:

typealias SinglePredicate<T> = (T) -> Boolean // 1

fun <T> SinglePredicate<T>.whoAmI() = println("I'm a typealias") //

2

fun main() {
val isEven = { number: Int -> number % 2 == 0 } // 3
isEven.whoAmI() // 4
}

Here, you just:

1. Give the name SinglePredicate<T> to any function receiving a single

parameter of type T and returning a Boolean .

2. Define whoAmI as an extension function for SinglePredicate<T> , which

just prints a message saying that the receiver type is typealias .
3. Define the isEven lambda, which returns true if an Int value you pass
as a parameter is even. Note how you’re just creating a lambda with no
relation to the name SinglePredicate<T> you defined earlier. It’s just a
lambda receiving an Int and returning a Boolean .

4. Invoke whoAmI on the previous lambda.

Compile and run the previous code, getting:

I'm a typealias

This is because the definition of whoAmI above would be exactly the same as:

fun <T> ((T) -> Boolean).whoAmI() =

println("I'm a typealias")

Now, add the following code to the same file, replacing the existing main
function:

fun interface ISinglePredicate<T> { // 1

fun accept(value: T): Boolean // 2

fun other() { // 3
println("I can have other methods")
}
}

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fun <T> ISinglePredicate<T>.whoAmI() = // 4
println("I'm a functional interface")

fun main() {
val isEvenFI = ISinglePredicate<Int> { number -> number % 2 == 0
} // 5
isEvenFI.whoAmI() // 6
isEvenFI.other() // 7
}

In this case, you:

1. Create ISinglePredicate<T> as a functional interface.

2. Define accept as the single abstract method for ISinglePredicate<T> .

3. Also define other , proving that a functional interface must have one and
only one abstract method, but it can also have other methods. A small note
about these methods later.

4. Create the same extension method, whoAmI , which prints the fact that this is
about a functional interface.

5. Create isEvenFI as an ISinglePredicate<Int> implementation using the

handy syntax mentioned earlier, recalling the lambda expressions.
6. Invoke whoAmI on isEvenFI .

7. Also invoke other on the same isEvenFI .

When you run this code, you get:

I'm a functional interface

I can have other methods

This proves that a functional interface is conceptually very similar to a function

type you define using typealias , but it:

1. Allows you to define a new type.

2. Is more type-safe because, like in the previous example, it allows you to
define extension methods for a very specific type of function. The whoAmI
on the type alias works for any function with one parameter returning
Boolean . The whoAmI on ISinglePredicate<Int> works just on instances
of the same explicit type.

3. Allows you to define one and only one operation. The others can be methods
working as default method implementations for an interface.

4. Invokes the abstract method of the functional interface. To achieve this, you
need to state its name explicitly. With the function you define using
typealias , you just use () or invoke . With ISinglePredicate<T> , you

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need to call accept .

Note: In theory, an interface doesn’t define any methods but just operations,
which are public and abstract by definition. When you read the method of the
interface, it means methods adding something more to the one the interface
defines through its operations. An example of this is:

interface Reader {
fun readChar(): Char?
fun readString(): String {
TODO("Call readChar() until it returns null")
}
}

Here, readChar is the operation and readString is the method.

Exercise 5.3: Can you implement Reader in the previous note using a
function interface? How would you test it?

Interfaces with multiple operations or methods

Exercise 5.3 should make you think about the relationship between functional
programming and the concept of interfaces with multiple operations. Why do
you think interfaces with a single operation (SAM) are so important?

The answer is very simple, and it can be summarized with the concepts you find
in the SOLID principles. You won’t revisit all of them here because it’s not the
main topic, but just think about the meaning of the I there, which stands for
the interface segregation principle.

This basically states that no clients should be forced to depend on methods they don’t
use. Functional interfaces, or lambda expressions, define a single operation and
make it impossible for clients to depend on the lambda expressions if they don’t
use those functions.

At this point, you might argue that using just SAM would make it difficult to
implement interfaces like Reader . That’s not the case at all — and you’ll prove
it. :] Open Solid.kt and add the following code to define CharReader as the
interface with the sole responsibility of providing a single Char at a time.

fun interface CharReader {

fun readChar(): Char?
}

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If you need to read a String , you can use the most fundamental principle of
functional programming: composition. In the same file, add the following code:

fun interface StringReader {

fun readString(charReader: CharReader): String
}

With this, you can implement StringReader by adding some code that’s
basically the same as what you probably implemented in Exercise 5.3:

val stringReader = StringReader { charReader ->

val result = StringBuilder()
do {
val nextChar = charReader.readChar()
if (nextChar != null) {
result.append(nextChar)
}
} while (nextChar != null)
result.toString()
}

To make everything more functional, add:

fun String.toCharReader(): CharReader {

var pos = 0
return CharReader {
if (pos < this.length) this[pos++] else null
}
}

This is an extension function on String returning a CharReader you can use

like this:

fun main() {
println(stringReader.readString("This is
String!".toCharReader()))
}

Run this code, and you get:

This is String!

In this single line of code, you:

1. Create CharReader from String .

2. Use stringReader to read String back from CharReader .

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3. Print String .

Thinking functionally, you managed to apply the interface segregation principle,

splitting Reader into two different functional interfaces, CharReader and
StringReader , reducing the dependency drastically.

Note: In Chapter 8, “Composition”, you’ll also learn to improve that code

further. It has too many parentheses () and can be made more readable.

Returning a lambda expression as an output value

The return value of a higher-order function can also be a function. Open
ReturnFunction.kt and write the following code:

fun countFrom(start: Int): () -> Int { // 1

var count = start // 2
return { // 3
count++
}
}

This function:

1. Has an input parameter of type Int and returns a function of type () ->
Int .

2. Initializes count to the value of the start parameter.

3. Returns a function that returns count and then increments its value.

You can test countFrom with the following code:

fun main() {
val countFromFive = countFrom(5)
println(countFromFive())
println(countFromFive())
println(countFromFive())
}

Run it, and you get:

5
6
7

As you see, countFrom initializes count , which is then captured by the lambda
it returns. All the variables outside the scope of a lambda function that the

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lambda can access represent its closure.

As in the previous example where count is incremented, the lambda can

access its closure and, if not constant, can also modify it.

Exercise 5.4: Implement an extension function isEqualsPredicate on the

generic type T that returns a predicate that tests if a given value is equal to
the same T . The signature should be the following:

fun <T> T.isEqualsPredicate(): (T) -> Boolean

How would the same function be different if you use the following functional
interface?

fun interface SinglePredicate<T> {

fun accept(other: T): Boolean
}

Using lambda expressions as input and

output
Functions with a lambda both as a return value and as an input parameter are
the most interesting and fun (pun intended :]). You’ve actually seen many of
these, and you’ll find many more ahead in the book.

As a simple example here, you can keep playing with Predicate . Open
Predicates.kt and write the following code:

fun interface Predicate1<T> {

fun accept(value: T): Boolean
}

Note: In this chapter, to make different examples coexist in the same project,
sometimes you need to use a different name for the same concept. That’s why
you append 1 to Predicate here. Of course, you wouldn’t do the same in
your project.

This is a single functional interface for a predicate with a single parameter

you’ve already met many times, such as during Exercise 5.4. Imagine, now, that
you want to create a function and that accepts as input two Predicate1<T> s
and returns another one, which is the logical and of the two. To be true, both

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predicates must be true.

You already know how to do this. In the same Predicates.kt file, add the
following code:

infix fun <T> Predicate1<T>.and(

other: Predicate1<T>
): Predicate1<T> = // 1
Predicate1 { value ->
this.accept(value) && other.accept(value) // 2
}

In this code, you simply:

1. Create an infix extension function and on Predicate1<T> .

2. Return another Predicate1<T> , which evaluates the first one and, if true,
other .

In the same way, define or like this:

infix fun <T> Predicate1<T>.or(

other: Predicate1<T>
): Predicate1<T> =
Predicate1 { value ->
this.accept(value) || other.accept(value)
}

You can use the same approach used in Exercise 5.4 with the following code:

fun <T> T.isEqualsPredicate1(): Predicate1<T> = // 1

Predicate1 { value -> this == value }

fun <T> Iterable<T>.filterWithPredicate(predicate: Predicate1<T>) =

// 2
filter(predicate::accept)

fun main() {
val predicate = 4.isEqualsPredicate1() or 5.isEqualsPredicate1()
// 3
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8)
.filterWithPredicate(predicate) // 4
.forEach(::println)
}

In this code, you:

1. Define isEqualsPredicate1 using Predicate1<T> .

2. Create filterWithPredicate on Iterable<T> for filtering values using
Predicate1<T> instead of (T) -> Boolean .

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3. Use the or you created earlier to create Predicate1<T> for filtering values
4 and 5 .

4. Use filterWithPredicate with predicate .

Run this code, and you get:

4
4
5

This is really fun!

Exercise 5.5: Can you implement the same logic for implementing the
example in the Imperative vs. declarative approach section using the
definitions of Predicate1<T> and filterWithPredicate ? Given a list of email
addresses, you need to:

Filter the valid email addresses.

Filter the email addresses that are long enough.

Take the first five of them.

Give it a try and check the solution in Appendix E.

Higher-order functions and the inline keyword

In Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you learned about the
convenience of using an inline keyword for lambda expressions or pure
functions in general. When you just inline a pure function, IntelliJ warns you
about the insignificant performance benefits. The same message also mentions
that this isn’t the same if the lambda was passed as an input parameter to a
higher-order function. What does the compiler mean by this?

Open Inline.kt and add the following code:

fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) {

fn()
}

fun main() {
executor { println("Hello World!") }
}

In this very simple code, you:

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1. Define executor , which just executes the lambda you pass as an input
parameter.

2. Invoke executor in main .

In this case, you don’t need to run this code, but repeat the same process you
followed in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts” for the Kotlin
decompiled code. When you do so, you end up with something like this:

public final class InlineKt {

public static final void executor(@NotNull Function0 fn) { // 1
Intrinsics.checkNotNullParameter(fn, "fn");
fn.invoke();
}

public static final void main() {

executor((Function0)null.INSTANCE); // 2
}

// $FF: synthetic method

public static void main(String[] var0) {
main();
}
}

As you see:

1. executor becomes a Java static method with Function0 as an input

parameter.

2. main contains the simple invocation of executor .

This is what you’d normally expect. Now, just add the inline keyword to
executor like this:

inline fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) { // HERE

fn()
}

The first thing to note is that the IntelliJ warning you got in Chapter 3 doesn’t
show up.

Figure 5.1: No warnings from IntelliJ

Check the decompiled code, and you see that main becomes:

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public static final void main() {

int $i$f$executor = false;
int var1 = false;
String var2 = "Hello World!";
boolean var3 = false;
System.out.println(var2); // HERE
}

You can see how main no longer has an executor invocation. There’s not
even the invocation of the fn you pass as a parameter. The Kotlin compiler has
copied the content of fn exactly where the previous executor invocation
was.

The inlined executor is very simple, but if it contained more code, the
resultant bytecode would also need much more space. On the other hand, you
could return to the warning situation using the noinline keyword like this:

inline fun executor(noinline fn: () -> Unit) { // HERE

fn()
}

In this case, the Kotlin compiler would complain again, like this:

Figure 5.2: Using the noinline keyword

This is because the decompiled code would be like the initial one.

Non-local returns
Inlining can be useful for another reason, though. Update the code in Inline.kt
like the following:

fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) {

fn()
}

fun main() {
executor {
var count = 0
while (true) {
count++
if (count > 5) {
return // ERROR
}
}
}
println("The End!")
}
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If you don’t inline executor , the Kotlin compiler will complain because it
doesn’t know from what context it should actually return .

Figure 5.3: Undefined return

Here, you have two options:

1. Use the label return@executor specifying that you want to exit from
executor .

2. Inline executor .

In the first case, you can write:

fun main() {
executor {
var count = 0
while (true) {
count++
if (count > 5) {
return@executor
}
}
}
println("The End!")
}

In the second case, you can just inline executor like this:

inline fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) {

fn()
}

You must be very careful, though, because the behavior of your program differs
in the two cases.

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When you use return@executor , you’re saying that when you reach return ,
you’re exiting from the body of executor . Run main , and you get:

The End!

If you inline executor , you’re copying return in main , and reaching it

means exiting from main . If you run the code, you get nothing because the
println statement won’t be reached.

The crossinline keyword

For completeness’ sake, it’s useful to look at the following code:

fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) { // 1

fn()
}

inline fun executorExecutor(fn: () -> Unit) { // 2

executor {
fn() // ERROR
}
}

Here, you note that:

1. executor isn’t inlined.

2. executorExecutor is inlined and invokes the fn it receives as an input
parameter using executor .

As you can see, the Kotlin compiler is complaining:

Figure 5.4: Can't inline 'fn' here; it may contain non-local returns

The message in Figure 5.4 explains everything.

The reason is that the compiler doesn’t know how to handle fn non-local
returns and suggests a solution of introducing the crossinline keyword to the
parameter like this:

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inline fun executorExecutor(crossinline fn: () -> Unit) {

executor {
fn()
}
}

This informs the Kotlin compiler that the lambda you pass as an input
parameter of executorExecutor can’t contain any non-local return. If it does,
you get an error:

Figure 5.5: 'return' is not allowed here

If you really want to allow return in fn , you can simply use inline for both
executor and executorExecutor :

inline fun executor(fn: () -> Unit) { // HERE

fn()
}

inline fun executorExecutor(fn: () -> Unit) { // HERE

executor {
fn()
}
}

Challenges
In this chapter, you learned a lot about higher-order functions that are basically
functions of functions. You’ve already done some interesting exercises, but now
it’s time for a few more challenges.

Challenge 5.1: Mapping is important

In this chapter, you learned how to implement different types of higher-order
functions, and in the next chapter, you’ll see many more. A very important one
is called map . This is a function that applies a given function fn of type (A) -
> B to all the elements of a collection of items of type A , getting a collection of

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items of type B .

Can you implement the function map for the Array<A> type with the following
signature?

fun <A, B> Array<A>.map(fn: (A) -> B): Array<B>

When you run this code:

fun main() {
val square = { a: Int -> a * a }
val toString = { a: Int -> "This is $a" }
arrayOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(square)
.forEach(::println)
arrayOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(toString)
.forEach(::println)
}

You should get:

1
4
9
This is 1
This is 2
This is 3

Challenge 5.2: Prime number ltering

Write a higher-order function all returning a new array containing all the
values in an Array<T> for which a given Predicate1<T> is true. You can find
Predicate1<T> ’s definition in Predicates.kt.

fun <T> Array<T>.all(predicate: Predicate1<T>) : Array<T>

Then, use it to return all the positive prime values in Array<Int> . A number is
prime if it’s not evenly divisible with any number other than 1 and itself.

Key points
A lambda expression is a function you can use as a value.
A higher-order function accepts other functions as input parameters or
provides other functions as return values.

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The declarative approach makes code more readable.

Kotlin allows you to define functional interfaces, which are a handy way to
define interfaces with a single abstract method that can be used as lambda
expressions.

Functional interfaces are also called SAM, which stands for single abstract
method.

A closure of a function is the set of all the variables the function can access,
which have been defined outside its own body.
A lambda function can modify its non-constant closures.

Always consider using the inline keyword for higher-order functions, but
double-check that the behavior is what you expect, especially in the context
of non-local returns.
The noinline and crossinline keywords are two additional options you
have to control the flow of your program when using higher-order functions.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you learned a lot about what higher-order
functions are and how they can help you write your code in a more declarative
way. Composition and higher-order functions are the essentials of functional
programming. Right now, you’re just at the beginning. In the next chapter, you’ll
be introduced to immutability and recursion: two important topics when using
higher-order functions.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

6 Immutability & Recursion

Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 5, “Higher-Order Functions”, you learned everything about one of

the pillars of functional programming. Higher-order functions don’t just allow
you to adopt a declarative approach for more readable code; they favor the use
of pure functions with all the benefits and advantages you learned in Chapter 3,
“Functional Programming Concepts”.

Immutability is another fundamental principle very common in functional

programming. Using immutable objects allows you to implement robust code,
reducing errors in different situations. For instance, think of what happens
when you run your code in concurrent environments, where race conditions
and deadlocks are the enemies. Immutability helps reduce that risk! You’ll see
that creating immutable objects is relatively easy, but it comes at a cost you need
to mitigate.

In this chapter, you’ll learn:

What immutability means in the context of the Kotlin language.

What read-only collections are and how Kotlin uses them to simulate
immutability.

Why you’d want to pursue immutability.

What the cost of immutability is when running code in a Java Virtual Machine
(JVM).
How immutability relates to functional programming.

What recursion is and how it helps in the use of immutable objects.

What tail recursion is and how it can optimize your code.

You’ll learn all this by writing code in Kotlin and having some fun with
interesting exercises and challenges. Open up the chapter project to get started.

Immutability
Immutability is a relatively simple concept to understand: It basically describes
the process of writing your code using immutable objects. An immutable object
is an object whose state can’t be modified after it’s created. You describe
immutable objects using immutable classes.

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In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned that the state of an object
is the set of values of all its properties. Because of this, immutable classes
describing immutable object instances don’t define mutators or expose any
mutable internal state.

Before diving into the study and implementation of functional data structures in
Chapter 7, it’s crucial to describe what immutability is and why it’s important.

Kotlin and immutability

In Effective Java, a popular book written by Joshua Bloch, “Item 15” states:
“Classes should be immutable unless there’s a very good reason to make them
mutable”. This is a rule of thumb, but most programming languages leave
immutable class implementation to the developers, and each language has its
own patterns. Kotlin is no different.

A simple immutable Kotlin class

For instance, Kotlin data classes can be mutable or immutable depending on if
you define properties using var or val . In any case, Kotlin forces you to
make this choice explicit.

Open Immutable.kt in this chapter’s material, and write the following code:

data class User(

val id: Int,
val username: String
)

User is an immutable class because you define each property using val and,
as you’ll see later, because String and Int are also immutable.

Looking at the decompiled code, you get something like the following:

public final class User {

private final int id; // 1
@NotNull
private final String username; // 1

public final int getId() { // 2

return this.id;
}

@NotNull
public final String getUsername() { // 2
return this.username;
}

public User(int id, @NotNull String username) {

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Intrinsics.checkNotNullParameter(username, "username");
super();
this.id = id;
this.username = username;
}
// ...
}

Note: You learned how to get the decompiled code in IntelliJ in Chapter 3,
“Functional Programming Concepts” in the section “Referentially transparent
expressions and Kotlin inline functions”.

Here, you see what’s related to immutability:

1. Each property has a private and final instance variable. private

allows them to be visible only in the same class and final forces them to be
initialized in the constructor without any chance of changing later.

2. You have getters for each property exposing the related local private
instance variable. In this case, you see how the getters are also final to
prevent overriding them in a User subclass. This last point is redundant
because Kotlin classes can’t be extended by default, as you see in final
class User . It’s also worth noting that there are no setters for the two
properties.

Note: If you want to remove final from User in the generated code, you
need to declare User as a normal open or abstract class in Kotlin.
Remember that data classes can’t be open or abstract .

Using defensive copy

In Kotlin, using val for all the properties is necessary but not sufficient to
make a data class immutable. With User , this works because id is an Int
and username is a String , which are immutable classes. To prove that this
isn’t enough to make the class fully immutable, add the following code to
Immutable.kt:

data class WrongImmutableUser(

val id: Int,
val username: String,
val dob: java.util.Date = Date() // HERE
)

Here, you define all the properties using val , and the decompiled code
translates them in private and final instance variables with only getters.

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However, WrongImmutableUser isn’t immutable because of the Date type. Just

run the following code to prove it:

fun main() {
val w = WrongImmutableUser(1, "maxcarli") // 1
println(w) // 2
w.dob.time = 1000L // 3
println(w) // 4
}

Here, you:

1. Create an instance of WrongImmutableUser .

2. Print its initial value.
3. Access dob and change its state.

4. Print the state of WrongImmutableUser again.

Running the previous code, you’ll see how the state has actually changed:

WrongImmutableUser(id=1, username=maxcarli, dob=Tue Aug 31 00:11:33

BST 2021)
WrongImmutableUser(id=1, username=maxcarli, dob=Thu Jan 01 01:00:01
GMT 1970)

Note: The actual date you see in your output may differ. The Date default
constructor uses the current time.

An option to avoid this modification is by using a defensive copy, which

introduces complexity because it returns a copy of the mutable property using
some verbose code like this:

data class WrongImmutableUser(

val id: Int,
val username: String,
val _dob: java.util.Date = Date() // 1
) {
val dob: Date // 2
get() = Date().apply { // 3
time = _dob.time
}
}

In this case, you:

1. Define _dob as a parameter for the actual date of birth property.

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2. Declare dob as a read-only property of the same type Date .

3. Create a copy of _dob ’s value every time the same property is accessed.

If you now run the same main you added earlier, you get the following output:

WrongImmutableUser(id=1, username=maxcarli, _dob=Tue Aug 31

00:24:44 BST 2021)
WrongImmutableUser(id=1, username=maxcarli, _dob=Tue Aug 31
00:24:44 BST 2021)

You tried to change the value of dob , but the state of WrongImmutableUser
didn’t change. This is because you acted on a copy of Date . This makes the
original WrongImmutableUser immutable, but the code isn’t the best, and you
also need to document this behavior somewhere.

A simple mutable Kotlin class

To implement a mutable version of User , write the following code in the same
Immutable.kt file:

data class MutableUser( // 1

val id: Int, // 2
var username: String // 3
)

This simple class has some important things to note:

1. The class MutableUser has a name giving information about the mutability.
As you’ll see later, the same happens with Kotlin collections where
MutableList<T> is the mutable version of List<T> .

2. You declare the id using val .

3. You need just one var property to make the whole class mutable.

Look at the decompiled code, and you now get something like this:

public final class MutableUser {

private final int id;
@NotNull
private String username; // 1

public final int getId() {

return this.id;
}

@NotNull
public final String getUsername() {
return this.username;
}

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public final void setUsername(@NotNull String var1) { // 2

Intrinsics.checkNotNullParameter(var1, "<set-?>");
this.username = var1;
}

public MutableUser(int id, @NotNull String username) {

Intrinsics.checkNotNullParameter(username, "username");
super();
this.id = id;
this.username = username;
}
// ...
}

In this case, the properties you define using var :

1. Are translated into instance variables that aren’t final .

2. Have setter or mutator methods.

Now, you can run the following code without any compilation errors:

fun main() {
val mutableUser = MutableUser(8, "maxcarli")
println(mutableUser)
mutableUser.username = "massimo"
println(mutableUser)
}

Getting this as output:

MutableUser(id=8, username=maxcarli)
MutableUser(id=8, username=massimo)

Immutable function parameters

Sometimes, people confuse the concept of immutability with the concept of
constant. Of course, a way to make a class immutable is to have all its properties
as constants, but:

Immutability refers to objects whose state can’t change after they’re created.

Constant refers to references or variables that can’t change their values

once initialized.

Open Constants.kt and add the following code:

fun main() {
val constantUser = MutableUser(1, "Max") // 1
constantUser = MutableUser(2, "Alice") // 2 ERROR
constantUser.username = "Alice"// 3
}
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In this case, you:

1. Define constantUser using val .

2. Can’t change the value of constantUser , assigning the reference to a new
MutableUser .

3. Can change the state of the object referenced by constantUser because of

type MutableUser , which is mutable.

The same happens when you use a parameter of a function, like in the following
code:

fun changeUsername(user: MutableUser) { // 1

user = MutableUser(2, "Alice") // ERROR // 2
user.username = "Alice" // 3
}

In this case, you:

1. Define changeUsername with a user parameter of type MutableUser .

2. Try to assign a different value to user . This doesn’t compile because

function parameters are implicitly constant. If it were possible, you wouldn’t
see the effect of the assignment outside the function. Kotlin, like Java,
doesn’t have references like C++ does.

3. Can use user to change MutableUser ‘s state because it’s mutable.

It’s interesting to look at the decompiled code:

public static final void changeUsername(@NotNull MutableUser user)

{
Intrinsics.checkNotNullParameter(user, "user");
user.setUsername("Alice");
}

In this code, nothing’s preventing the reassignment of user , which is

something happening at the Kotlin compiler level. Thank you, Kotlin!

Immutability and Kotlin collections

In the previous paragraphs, you created User as an example of an immutable
class and MutableUser as its mutable companion. Kotlin uses the same naming
convention for collections. When you refer to List<E> , you implicitly mean
the immutable version of a list. If you need to modify the list, you need to refer

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to MutableList<E> .

It’s fundamental to understand how List<E> differs from MutableList<E> .

Look at the source code, and you’ll find that List<E> is an interface in the
kotlin.collections package containing some read-only operations, while
MutableList<E> extends List<E> , adding mutator functions like add or
remove .

Some of those are represented in the UML diagram in Figure 6.1:

Figure 6.1: List<E> and MutableList<E> relationship

To explore this more, open Collections.kt and write:

fun main() {
val immutableList = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) // 1
val asMutableList = immutableList as MutableList<Int> // 2
asMutableList.add(10) // 3
// immutableList.add(10) // DOESN'T COMPILE
}

In this code, you:

1. Create immutableList as an immutable List<Int> you get from listOf .

2. Define asMutableList , casting immutableList to MutableList<Int> . This

doesn’t give any compilation errors. That’s because a List<T> can possibly
be a MutableList<T> , so the Kotlin compiler can’t exclude that at compile
time.
3. Invoke add on asMutableList .

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Run the code, and you get:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException

at java.util.AbstractList.add(AbstractList.java:148)

This doesn’t mean add doesn’t exist in the objects referenced by

immutableList . It means the List<Int> implementation you get from
listOf implements add in a way that it throws an
UnsupportedOperationException when invoked. This isn’t the same as having
a List<Int> implementation with no add function at all.

You get the immutability of the object provided by listOf by hiding add
behind the List<E> interface and making the object safe by throwing an
exception in the add implementation. The same is true for other mutators like
remove . For this reason, collections like List<T> are called read-only
collections.

Note: At the time of writing, there’s a proposal for a different implementation

of mutable, immutable and persistence collections.

In Chapter 7, “Functional Data Structures”, you’ll learn what an immutable

collection is through the implementation of FList and FTree .

Immutability advantages
So far, you’ve learned how to implement immutability in Kotlin, but you haven’t
actually seen why you should pursue immutability. The main reasons are:

Simplicity

Consistency
Avoiding duplication

Thread safety

It’s useful to give some examples for each of those:

Simplicity
Immutable classes are usually easier to implement and, for sure, easier to think
about. The reason for this is in the definition itself of an immutable object. If an
object can’t change its state after it’s been created, it means you don’t have to
implement mutators and logic to accept only values that are valid for the
specific domain.

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Consistency
Immutable objects are very good keys in a Map when mutable ones are
dangerous. To prove that, add the following code to Consistency.kt:

data class MutableKey( // 1

var id: Int
)

fun main() {
val key1 = MutableKey(1) // 2
val key2 = MutableKey(2) // 2
val myMap = mutableMapOf( // 3
key1 to "First",
key2 to "Second"
)
println("Value for $key1 is ${myMap[key1]}") // 4
key1.id = 2 // 5
println("Value for $key1 is ${myMap[key1]} after key1 update") //
6
println("Value for $key2 is ${myMap[key2]}") // 6
println("The Map is $myMap") // 7
myMap.remove(key1).also { println("Removed $key1 from myMap") }
// 8
myMap.remove(key2).also { println("Removed $key2 from myMap") }
// 8
println("The Map after remove is $myMap") // 8
println("Value for $key1 is ${myMap[key1]} after key1 remove") //
9
println("Value for $key2 is ${myMap[key2]} after key2 remove") //
9
}

When you run main , you get the following output:

Value for Key(id=1) is First

Value for Key(id=2) is Second after key1 update
Value for Key(id=2) is Second
The Map is {Key(id=2)=First, Key(id=2)=Second}
Removed Key(id=2) from myMap
Removed Key(id=2) from myMap
The Map after remove is {Key(id=2)=First}
Value for Key(id=2) is null after key1 remove
Value for Key(id=2) is null after key2 remove

Following the points in the previous code, note how you:

1. Create MutableKey as a mutable data class with a simple Int property,

id .

2. Initialize key1 and key2 using 1 and 2 as id , respectively.

3. Create myMap using key1 and key2 as the keys, and "First" and
"Second" as the values, respectively.

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4. Print the value for key1 . As expected, you get the value First .

5. Mutate key1 , assigning the value 2 to its id property. This is quite

dangerous because you should already have a key for that id .

6. Print the values for key1 and key2 , getting Second in both cases. This
isn’t obvious because when changing the value of id for key1 , you might
expect that the related value First has overridden the existing value
Second . This isn’t the case, but the situation is actually even worse.

7. Print myMap ’s current state, which contains two equal keys with two
different values. How can that be possible?

8. Try to remove the values for both key1 and key2 , and then print myMap ‘s
state again. You might expect an empty Map , but this isn’t the case. The
value for key1 is still there. Or, at least, that’s what you see in the output.

9. Access the values in the map for key1 and key2 , getting null for both.

There’s definitely something wrong because of the mutability of Key . To

prevent these things from happening, you should make Key immutable, which
you can do by adding this to Consistency.kt:

data class Key(

val id: Int // HERE
)

Note: Key is immutable because Int is immutable and id cannot be

reassigned.

Replace MutableKey with Key everywhere you’re using it. Using val for id
means the following line doesn’t compile:

// ...
key1.id = 2
// ...

Comment out key1.id = 2 so your code compiles. Run the previous code
using your new immutable keys, and you get the following output:

Value for Key(id=1) is First

Value for Key(id=1) is First after key1 update
Value for Key(id=2) is Second
The Map is {Key(id=1)=First, Key(id=2)=Second}
Removed Key(id=1) from myMap
Removed Key(id=2) from myMap
The Map after remove is {}
Value for Key(id=1) is null after key1 remove
Value for Key(id=2) is null after key2 remove
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In this case, myMap :

1. Contains both the keys for different id values and you can’t change that by
mutating the keys.

2. Is empty after removing the values for both key1 and key2 .

This is actually the proof that every class should be immutable unless there’s a
good reason to make it mutable. In this case, there isn’t a good reason to make
Key mutable.

Avoid duplication
In the previous example, you created two different instances of Key with two
different values for id . It’s interesting to see what happens if you create two
different instances of the immutable version of Key for the same id . Run the
following code after writing it in Reuse.kt:

fun main() {
val key1 = Key(1) // 1
val key2 = Key(1) // 1
val myMap = mutableMapOf<Key, String>()
myMap[key1] = "First" // 2
println("Value for $key1 is ${myMap[key1]}") // 3
println("The Map is $myMap") // 3
myMap[key2] = "Second" // 4
println("Value for $key2 is ${myMap[key2]}") // 5
println("The Map is $myMap") // 5
}

In this case, the output is:

Value for Key(id=1) is First

The Map is {Key(id=1)=First}
Value for Key(id=1) is Second
The Map is {Key(id=1)=Second}

Here, you:

1. Create two Key instances using the same value for id .

2. Insert a value, "First" , in myMap using key1 .

3. Print the value for key1 and the whole map, getting what you expect.

4. Insert a new value, "Second" , in myMap using key2 .

5. Print the value for key2 , checking that the new value has overridden the old
one.

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The previous code proves key1 and key2 are effectively the same key, and
creating new instances of them is redundant. Because Key is immutable,
there’s no reason to create more instances for the same value of id . Reusing
the same object also simplifies the job of the compilers that can implement and
apply some low-level optimizations similar to the ones they apply to constants.

Note: Later, you’ll see some curious consequences of immutable instance

reusability in the JVM when dealing with Java wrapper types like Integer ,
Long , etc.

Exercise 6.1: In this section, you learned it’s useful to avoid creating multiple
instances of immutable classes because they represent the same value.
Given the following immutable class Id :

class Id(val id: Int)

How would you change it to prevent any client from creating multiple
instances of Id for the same id ?

When you run this code:

fun main() {
val id1 = // Create Id for id = 1
val id2 = // Create Id for id = 1
val id3 = // Create Id for id = 2
val id4 = // Create Id for id = 2
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id3}")
println("${id3 === id4}")
}

You get:

true
true
false
true

Exercise 6.2: What happens if the Id class in Exercise 6.1 is a data class?

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Thread safety
Immutable objects can be used safely by different threads without falling into an
inconsistent state. Concurrent programming is difficult, and you always need to
adopt synchronization strategies to avoid classic problems like race conditions
or deadlock. Using immutable objects helps, but it’s not always enough.

A race condition happens when multiple threads access shared data, and the
result depends on the order the operations happen. For instance, write this
code in Safety.kt:

data class MutableCounter( // 1

var count: Int = 0
)

val counter = MutableCounter() // 2

val task = { // 3
randomDelay() // 4
counter.count++ // 3
randomDelay() // 4
if (counter.count == 2) { // 3
println("Completed")
}
}

fun main() { // 5
thread(block = task)
thread(block = task)
}

In this code, you:

1. Define MutableCounter as a simple mutable class, wrapping Int to use as a

counter.

2. Initialize counter with an instance of MutableCounter .

3. Define a lambda that increments the value of count and prints a message if
the counter value is 2 .

4. Use randomDelay , found in Util.kt, which waits a random interval of time up

to 100 milliseconds (ms).

5. Finally, create main , where you start two different threads running the
same task on the same object counter .

Run main multiple times, and see how, sometimes, you get a single output like:

Completed

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Other times, you get:

Completed
Completed

This is a typical example of a race condition, explained in Figure 6.2:

Figure 6.2: Race condition scenarios

Scenario 1: One thread accesses count and increments its value to 1 . The
same thread checks if the value is 2 , printing nothing. Now, the other
thread accesses count , increments it to 2 and executes the same test. The
test is now successful and prints the Completed message.

Scenario 2: One thread accesses count and increments its value to 1 .

Before this thread reaches the test, the other one accesses count ,
incrementing the value to 2 . Now, both threads execute the test, which is
successful in both cases. It prints Completed and produces the double
output.

You might argue that this happens because of randomDelay . This is true, but
randomDelay simply simulates the scheduler’s behavior, which is the
component responsible for assigning each thread in the runnable state the
right to proceed. To be considered thread-safe, your code should work whatever
the scheduler algorithm is and hence, whatever order of instructions the
different threads run.

But how can immutability solve this specific problem? Well, immutability helps
you avoid the race condition because it prevents you from updating the state of a
shared object. To solve the counter problem, you need to approach it
differently. Here, you’re basically assuming that you want to:

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Run the task to increment the counter and check its value in a concurrent
way.
Print the Completed message only once if the value of counter is 2 .

In Chapter 17, “Sequence & Flow”, you’ll learn more about composition of
suspendable functions. But a possible naive solution could be the following,
which you can add in Safety.kt, making sure to comment out the existing
main :

data class Counter( // 1

val count: Int = 0
)

fun incAndCheck(counter: Counter): Counter {

randomDelay()
val newCounter = Counter(counter.count + 1) // 2
randomDelay()
if (newCounter.count == 2) {
println("Completed")
}
return newCounter
}

fun main() {
val counter = Counter()
lateinit var counter1: Counter
val th1 = thread { // 3
counter1 = incAndCheck(counter)
}
th1.join() // 4
thread {
incAndCheck(counter1)
}
}

Concurrent programming isn’t easy because you need to use synchronization

mechanisms to make your code work correctly with different scheduling
algorithms. But don’t worry, the steps are outlined below.

Note: In Chapter 8, “Composition”, you’ll see how to solve this problem using
the Kleisli category you learned in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming
Concepts”.

In the previous code, you:

1. Create Counter as an immutable class.

2. Implement incAndCheck as a function receiving one Counter as input and

returning another Counter as output. Here, it’s crucial to see how the
Counter object you return is a new instance you create using

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counter.count + 1 . Because of println , this isn’t a pure function.

3. Create th1 as a thread in main , where you start to execute incAndCheck .

4. Use join as the synchronization mechanism mentioned earlier. This
allows you to make your code correct. With this, you’re asking the main
thread to wait for the completion of th1 . When it completes, you have the
right value of counter1 to use for the run of the second thread.

You introduced synchronization to make the code correct at the cost of a lower
throughput, which is the number of operations you can do in a period of time.

Note: In the case of more than two threads, the solution would be different,
much more complex, and is outside the scope of this book.

Note: MapReduce is a possible alternative to manage the counter problem,

but it would have the challenge of executing the println message when the
counter reaches the value 2 . As a possible trade-off, you might choose to
display the message in the end, checking if the counter is greater than or
equal to 2 .

In conclusion, immutability helps you make your code more robust, but you
still need a way to use it properly in different situations.

The price of immutability

As you’ve seen so far, immutability has some advantages, but nothing comes for
free. Sometimes, using mutable objects instead makes the code easier to write.
For instance, write the following code in ImmutabilityCost.kt:

fun mutableIncAndCheck(counter: MutableCounter) { // 1

randomDelay()
counter.count++ // 1
randomDelay()
if (counter.count == 2) {
println("Completed")
}
}

fun main() {
val counter = MutableCounter() // 2
val th1 = thread { // 3
mutableIncAndCheck(counter)
}
th1.join() // 4
thread { // 5
mutableIncAndCheck(counter)
}
}
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In this case, you:

1. Define mutableIncAndCheck as a function that adds 1 to count of the

MutableCounter you pass as a parameter and checks if the new value is 2 .

2. Create a single instance of MutableCounter and assign it to counter .

3. Start a new thread, th1 , invoking mutableIncAndCheck with counter .

4. Use join to wait for the completion of th1 .

5. Start the second thread again, invoking mutableIncAndCheck with

counter .

Run the previous code multiple times, and you’ll always get Completed once.

This code is simpler because you don’t have to do all the copies and pass them
around.

Another option is creating a critical section, which is a block of code that only
one thread can access at a time. Open CriticalSection.kt and write the following
code:

@Synchronized // 1
fun syncedMutableIncAndCheck(counter: MutableCounter) {
randomDelay()
counter.count++
randomDelay()
if (counter.count == 2) {
println("Completed")
}
}

fun main() {
val counter = MutableCounter()
thread { // 2
syncedMutableIncAndCheck(counter)
}
thread { // 2
syncedMutableIncAndCheck(counter)
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Use @Synchronized to make the body of syncedMutableIncAndCheck a

critical section. This means that only one thread at a time can access it.

2. Start two different threads executing syncedMutableIncAndCheck on the

same MutableCounter object.

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Because only one thread can execute syncedMutableIncAndCheck at a time,
there’s no race condition on counter .

Immutability in JVM
At this point, a weird question might come to your mind. How can you change
immutable objects? The example in the previous section gives you an answer. If
you want to increment the count property of an immutable Counter object,
you just create a new instance, like this:

val counter0 = Counter()

val counter1 = Counter(counter0.count + 1)

Is creating too many objects expensive? Of course, it is. Creating many objects
forces the garbage collector (GC) to start minor and major collections,
impacting the application’s performance. Fortunately, there are also ways to
reduce the impact:

1. Reuse the same value.

2. Use a mutable companion.

You’ll learn more about these options below.

Note: Garbage collection is a process responsible for reclaiming the memory

used by objects that are no longer active or used. Depending on the GC
algorithm, this process might have some impact on CPU usage, removing the
application’s resources with some visible effects. Minor and major collections
are two different steps that a generational algorithm runs on young or old
objects, respectively. GC is a very interesting topic, but outside the scope of
this book.

Reuse the same value

Open BasicTypes.kt and write the following code:

fun main() {
val a: Int? = 1
val b: Int? = 1
println("Equals ${a == b}")
println("Same ${a === b}")
}

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Note: In this code, you’re using Int? , which Kotlin, on JVM, maps to
Integer . Compare this to Int , which Kotlin maps to the int primitive
type and doesn’t have the concept of reference. This is because Integer can
be null and int can’t. Because of this and the approaching introduction of
value classes, the === operator for referential equality on basic types has
been deprecated.

When you run it, you get:

Equals true
Same true

Because a and b are of type Int? , the compiler maps them to an instance of
Integer . The instances should be different, and the referential equality should
return false , but this isn’t happening. The reason for this outcome isn’t
completely obvious. Replace the previous code with the following:

fun main() {
val a: Int? = 200
val b: Int? = 200
println("Equals ${a == b}")
println("Same ${a === b}")
}

Run the code, and you get:

Equals true
Same false

Hey, why is 1 === 1 true while 200 === 200 is false ? This is a design
choice done for performance reasons. When you assign the literal 200 to a
and b , the compiler automatically boxes the primitive value into an Integer .

If the value’s between -128 and 127 , the JVM is smart enough to recycle the
same values. If the literal is outside that interval, the JVM creates a new instance
every time. This is because of the assumption that small values are more likely
to be used multiple times in a program.

Use a mutable companion

Another option to have less impact on the GC is the creation of a mutable
companion. A classic and very important example is the StringBuffer class as
a mutable companion class for String . The String class is immutable, and
StringBuffer is a classic thread-safe class encapsulating its state in a private
instance variable kept safe using synchronized methods.

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Note: StringBuilder exposes the same StringBuffer interface, removing

the synchronization on the methods. This makes StringBuilder more
efficient than StringBuffer , and it’s a good choice when thread safety is
guaranteed in another way or not required.

Now you know all about immutability. You learned how to implement it in Kotlin
and what the trade-offs are in terms of thread safety and performance. But
what’s the relationship between immutability and functional programming? Is
immutability somehow related to the declarative approach you use when
writing higher-order functions? Is it actually possible to create applications
using only immutable objects? Is the immutability real, or is it just an illusion?

Immutability and functional

programming
So far, you’ve learned that two of the main concepts in functional programming
are:

Pure functions

Higher-order functions

In Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you learned that a pure

function doesn’t have any side effects. This means the function doesn’t mutate
the state of any object external to the function itself. In Chapter 5, “Higher-
Order Functions”, you learned how to write your code using a declarative
approach and pure functions.

Open FPImmutability.kt, and add the following code:

fun main() {
var total = 0 // 1
val list = listOf(1, 5, 10, 12, 34, 55, 80, 23, 35, 12, 80)
for (i in 0 until list.size) {
if (list[i] % 5 == 0) {
total += list[i] // 2
}
}
println("Total: $total")
}

This is imperative code that allows you to calculate the sum of the values in a
list that are multiples of 5 . It is not only imperative, but it contains a lot of
mutable variables in particular:

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1. total for the result.

2. i as the index of the for to iterate over all the values in the list.

Run main , and you get:

Total: 265

Now, replace the previous code with the following:

fun main() {
val multipleOf5 = { value: Int -> value % 5 == 0 }
val total = listOf(1, 5, 10, 12, 34, 55, 80, 23, 35, 12, 80)
.filter(multipleOf5)
.sum()
println("Total: $total")
}

When you run this code, you get the same result:

Total: 265

In this case, you don’t have anything mutable. You don’t see any index to update
for iterating over the list and no total to update with the elements that are
multiples of 5 in the list. It’s crucial to understand that this is what you see, but
it doesn’t mean it’s actually what’s happening. Control-Click on sum , and
IntelliJ gets you to the following code:

@kotlin.jvm.JvmName("sumOfInt")
public fun Iterable<Int>.sum(): Int {
var sum: Int = 0
for (element in this) {
sum += element
}
return sum
}

This is how Kotlin implements sum on Iterable<T> . If you do the same on

filter , you get this:

public inline fun <T> Iterable<T>.filter(predicate: (T) ->

Boolean): List<T> {
return filterTo(ArrayList<T>(), predicate)
}

Selecting filterTo , you get here:

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public inline fun <T, C : MutableCollection<in T>>
Iterable<T>.filterTo(destination: C, predicate: (T) -> Boolean): C
{
for (element in this) if (predicate(element))
destination.add(element)
return destination
}

This means that when you run the declarative code on List<T> with filter
and sum , you’re actually running code with all the mutations you had in your
first imperative implementation. The difference is that mutation is hidden in a
well-tested and safe place, which is perfectly fine.

The declarative approach you have with functional programming favors the use
of immutable objects, but it doesn’t completely prevent you from using mutable
objects instead.

In fact, nothing prevents you from writing the following ugly implementation of
the sum use case:

// DON'T DO THIS!!!
var total = 0
listOf(1, 5, 10, 12, 34, 55, 80, 23, 35, 12, 80)
.forEach {
if (it % 5 == 0) {
total += it
}
}
println("Total: $total")

Although the output is correct, here, you’re using the declarative function
forEach to change the state of the external variable total . Please, don’t do
that!

Immutability and recursion

Recursion happens when a function calls itself to accomplish a specific task.
Usually, this happens until a specific condition, the terminal condition, is
achieved. Recursion is a very useful technique to use when dealing with
immutable objects. Suppose you want to calculate, again, the sum of all the
multiples of 5 in a list. Open Recursion.kt and write the following code:

fun recAddMulti5(list: List<Int>): Int { // 1

fun loop(i: Int, sum: Int): Int = when { // 2
i == list.size -> sum // 3
list[i] % 5 == 0 -> loop(i + 1, sum + list[i]) // 4
else -> loop(i + 1, sum)
}
return loop(0, 0) // 5

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}

fun main() {
val list = listOf(1, 5, 10, 12, 34, 55, 80, 23, 35, 12, 80)
println(recAddMulti5(list))
}

Run the code, and you get the same value you got in the previous examples:

265

In the previous code, you:

1. Define recAddMulti5 as the function that calculates the sum of the

multiples of 5 in a list.
2. Implement loop as a recursive local function that receives, as input
parameters, the index i of the current element and the partial sum . In the
body, you evaluate different cases using a when expression.
3. Test the value of i . If the list is completed, the total sum is the value you
get as input.

4. Check if the value at index i is a multiple of 5 . If it is, you invoke loop

again for the next index, adding the element at position i to the sum .
5. Invoke loop again for the next index with the same sum in all the other
cases.

As you can see, there’s no apparent mutation here. This is because, during the
execution, no variables are changing their values, but you implement a similar
behavior, passing parameters to a recursive function. This might look expensive
and prone to stack-overflow errors, but not all recursive functions are equal.
Some recursive functions can be implemented using a loop with an evident
performance improvement. It’s the case of tail-recursive functions.

Exercise 6.3: The Tower of Hanoi is a classic example of a recursive function.

It is a famous game consisting of three rods and a set of n disks of different
radii. At the beginning, all the disks are stacked on the first rod. You need to
move all the disks from the first rod to the third, following some rules:

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Tower 1 Tower 2 Tower 3

Figure 6a.2: Hanoi Towers

Only one disk may be moved at a time.

Each move consists of taking the top disk from one of the stacks and
placing it on top of another stack or on an empty rod.

No disk may be placed on top of a disk that’s smaller than it.

Can you implement this in Kotlin?

Tailrec functions
In the previous paragraph, you learned how recursion helps you accomplish
some tasks without any sort of mutation. Instead of changing the value of a
variable in a cycle, you invoke a function, passing the new value as parameter.

To better explain this concept, add the following code to TailRec.kt:

fun imperativeFactorial(n: Int): Int {

var result = 1 // 1
for (value in 2..n) { // 2
result *= value // 3
}
return result // 4
}

fun main() {
println(imperativeFactorial(10))
}

This is the imperative implementation of the factorial of a number n . In this

code, you:

1. Initialize result to 1 .

2. Iterate over all the values from 2 to n .

3. Update current by multiplying it by value .
4. Return current .

Run this code, and you get:

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3628800

Note: You represent the factorial of a positive integer value, n , with n!,
which is the result of multiplying all the integer values between 1 and n .
For instance, 3! = 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 .

So far, so good. In the previous paragraph, you learned that you can remove
mutation with recursion. Now, add the following code to the same file:

fun recursiveFactorial(n: Int): Int = when (n) { // 1

1 -> 1 // 2
else -> n * recursiveFactorial(n - 1) // 3
}

In this case, you:

1. Define recursiveFactorial and use the when expression, checking the

different values of the input parameter n .
2. Return 1 as the result of 1! .
3. Return the multiplication of n with the recursiveFactorial(n-1)
otherwise.

Run this code, and the output is, of course, the same:

fun main() {
println(recursiveFactorial(10))
}

3628800

The code is now shorter and more intuitive because it’s closer to the definition
of factorial. Take a closer look, and note how you always get the result by
multiplying the value of n by recursiveFactorial(n - 1) . The following is a
representation of what’s actually happening when you invoke
recursiveFactorial(5) :

recursiveFactorial(5)
5 * recursiveFactorial(4)
5 * 4 * recursiveFactorial(3)
5 * 4 * 3 * recursiveFactorial(2)
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * recursiveFactorial(1)
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1
5 * 4 * 3 * 2
5 * 4 * 6
5 * 24
120

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In this case, note how the recursion is needed because, to return

recursiveFactorial(n) , the function needs to calculate
recursiveFactorial(n - 1) first until it reaches the terminal condition,
which is the result of recursiveFactorial(1) .

Can you do better? In this case, yes! Add the following code to the same file:

fun tailRecFactorial(n: Int, fact: Int = 1): Int = when (n) { // 1

1 -> fact // 2
else -> tailRecFactorial(n - 1, n * fact) // 3
}

This looks similar to recursiveFactorial , but it’s actually very different. In

this case, you:

1. Define tailRecFactorial with two input parameters. The first is the value
n that you want to calculate the factorial of. The second is the current
result, fact .

2. Return fact when you reach the value 1 for n .

3. Return the result of tailRecFactorial for n - 1 , adding the factor of n

in the second parameter if n isn’t 1 .

Run this code, and the output is, of course, the same:

fun main() {
println(tailRecFactorial(10))
}

3628800

This time, repeat the previous exercise for recursiveFactorial(5) , and you
get the following sequence:

recursiveFactorial(5, 1) // 1
recursiveFactorial(4, 5) // 1 * 5
recursiveFactorial(3, 20) // 1 * 5 * 4
recursiveFactorial(2, 60) // 1 * 5 * 4 * 3
recursiveFactorial(1, 120) // 1 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2
120

Note how you don’t actually need an invocation of recursiveFactorial(n -

1) to complete for it to return the value of recursiveFactorial(n) . This is

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very important because it means that you could convert the recursion in a
simple loop. This is an example of tail recursion. Tail recursion is a particular
case of recursion, where the return value of a function is calculated as a call to
itself and nothing else.

Look at the decompiled code, and you’ll see something like the following:

public static final int tailRecFactorial(int n, int fact) {

int var10000;
switch(n) {
case 1:
var10000 = fact;
break;
default:
var10000 = tailRecFactorial(n - 1, n * fact); // HERE
}
return var10000;
}

Kotlin isn’t smart enough to understand that a function is tail recursive, so you
have to give it an hint. Just add the tailrec keyword like this:

tailrec fun tailRecFactorial(n: Int, fact: Int = 1): Int = when (n)
{ // HERE
1 -> fact
else -> tailRecFactorial(n - 1, n * fact)
}

The decompiled code now becomes:

public static final int tailRecFactorial(int n, int fact) {

while(true) { // HERE
switch(n) {
case 1:
return fact;
default:
int var10000 = n - 1;
fact = n * fact;
n = var10000;
}
}
}

The Kotlin compiler has replaced the recursion with a simple while loop,
which has an important impact on performance.

Mastering recursion is an important skill when you deal with functional data
structures, as you’ll see next in Chapter 7, “Functional Data Structures”.

Exercise 6.4: Tail-recursive functions usually provide better performance.

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Can you prove this using the chrono function in Util.kt?

/** Utility that measures the time for executing a lambda N

times */
fun chrono(times: Int = 1, fn: () -> Unit): Long {
val start = System.nanoTime()
(1..times).forEach({ fn() })
return System.nanoTime() - start
}

Challenges
In this chapter, you learned a lot about immutability and recursion. You’ve
already done some interesting exercises, but now it’s time for a couple more
challenges.

Challenge 6.1: Immutability and recursion

In “Immutability and recursion”, you implemented recAddMulti5 as a
recursive function. Is the loop internal function tail recursive?

Challenge 6.2: Tail-recursive Fibonacci

Fibonacci is one of the most famous sequences you can implement using
recursion. Remember, the n th Fibonacci number is the sum of the two
previous Fibonacci numbers, starting with 0, 1, 1... . Can you implement it
as a tail-recursive function? Can you prove the tail-recursive function has
better performance than the non-tail-recursive companion?

Key points
Immutable objects are objects whose state can’t be modified after they’re
created.
Immutable classes describe immutable objects. They’re usually simpler
because they don’t provide mutators.
Classes should be immutable unless there’s a very good reason to make them
mutable.

Immutable objects can be used safely by different threads without putting

them into an inconsistent state.
You can use immutable objects to make your code more robust, but they
don’t solve all your problems.

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Recursion is an important technique that allows you to handle mutation in a
safe way.

Tail recursion is a particular case of recursion where the return value of a

function is calculated as a call to itself and nothing else.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you learned a lot about immutability and
recursion. These are very important concepts that you need to master to really
understand functional data structures — the next chapter’s topic.

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7 Functional Data Structures

Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 6, “Immutability & Recursion”, you learned all about immutability

and how to use it in Kotlin. You learned:

How using immutable objects helps solve concurrency problems.

The cost you have to pay in terms of code simplicity.

How to implement recursive functions and use the tailrec keyword to
improve performance.

Immutability and recursion are fundamental skills you need to understand and
implement immutable data structures and, in particular, persistence
collections. In this chapter, you’ll learn:

What an immutable data structure is.

What it means for a data structure to be persistent.

How to implement an immutable and persistent list as a classic example of

immutable and persistent data structures.

What pattern matching is and what you can actually achieve in Kotlin.

What the main functions for a collection are and how to implement them in
Kotlin.

As always, you’ll learn all this by solving some interesting exercises and
challenges.

Immutable data structure

In the “Immutability and Kotlin collections” section in Chapter 6, “Immutability
& Recursion”, you saw that the List<T> implementation you usually get in
Kotlin isn’t an actual immutable collection, but something called a read-only
collection. This means builder functions like listOf<T>() return objects you
see through the List<T> interface, but they aren’t actually immutable. They
still have mutators, but they just implement them by throwing exceptions when
invoked.

As the name says, an immutable data structure is a data structure that can’t
change after it’s created. However, you can still add or remove values in a sense.
What you get from an immutable data structure after adding or removing an

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element is another data structure with the element added or removed. This
might look like a waste of memory on the Java Virtual Machine with
performance consequences because of the garbage collector. This isn’t always
true.

Persistent singly linked list

The persistent singly linked list is a classic example of a functional data
structure. You’ll find it often in functional programming tutorials because of its
simplicity and because its implementation is a very good exercise of the typical
functions a collection provides. Before diving into the code, it’s useful to have a
visual representation that explains how to handle immutable data structures.

Imagine you have to build a singly linked list which is, of course, initially empty
like in Figure 7.1:

Figure 7.1: Empty functional list

You usually represent an empty list with the Nil value, but you could call it
Zero , Empty or even Null . It’s important to note how the empty list Nil
doesn’t depend on the type of values the list should contain. All the empty lists
are the same.

You can then try to add an element, for instance, an Int , getting what’s shown
in Figure 7.2:

Figure 7.2: Functional list with one element

This new representation of a list is very interesting because it’s somehow

different from what you would’ve normally implemented using a classic object-

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oriented approach.

To prove this, add the following code in ObjectOrientedList.kt in the material

for this chapter:

data class Node<T>( // 1

val value: T,
val next: Node<T>? = null
)

fun main() {
val emptyList: Node<*>? = null // 2
val singleValueList = Node(1) // 3
}

In this code, you define:

1. Node<T> as an immutable class with a property for value and one for the
optional next element in the list of type Node<T>? .

2. emptyList as a constant of type Node<*> initialized with null .

3. singleValueList as a simple Node<Int> .

This is different from what you have in Figure 7.2 because there’s no explicit
relation between what you have in singleValueList and emptyList . Also,
emptyList is just a null value that doesn’t give meaning to the empty list
object.

Of course, you can make the relation with emptyList explicit, modifying the
previous code like this:

fun main() {
val emptyList: Node<*>? = null
val singleValueList = Node(1, emptyList as Node<Int>) // HERE
}

Here, you pass emptyList as a second parameter of the Node<T> primary

constructor, and this requires you to do an explicit cast with as . IntelliJ isn’t
super happy, as you see in Figure 7.3:

Figure 7.3: Unsafe cast for the empty list

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The following change would fix this warning, but again, it would just be another
way of creating a simple Node<T> , and you’d lose the relation with emptyList :

fun main() {
val singleValueList = Node(1, null)
}

To better understand how to implement the persistent singly linked list, look at
Figure 7.4, illustrating the list you get by adding a second element:

Figure 7.4: Functional list with two elements

Again, you might still have the references to the previous emptyList and
singleValueList , but now you can find a pattern in how you build the list. In
this case, the object-oriented code gives you a hint. Just add the following
definition to the bottom of main :

val twoValuesList = Node(2, Node(1, null))

This is quite normal code, but it gives you an idea; it helps you see every list as a
collection with the following characteristics:

1. It can be empty.

2. It can contain a value in the head with an optional list as the tail. These are
represented as value and next respectively within Node .

3. In the last case, the tail can be empty.

This leads you to the following definition of FList<T> . Write it in FList.kt:

sealed class FList<out T> // 1

object Nil : FList<Nothing>() // 2
internal data class FCons<T>(
val head: T,
val tail: FList<T> = Nil
) : FList<T>() // 3

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With this code, you define:

1. The sealed class FList<T> , which allows you to define a limited set of
implementations that Kotlin forces you to define in the same file or package.

2. Nil as an object that represents the empty list. Because the empty list is the
same for every type T , you can represent it as FList<Nothing> . This works
because Nothing is a subtype of every other type and because FList<T> is
covariant. You define the covariance of FList<T> using the out keyword. If
you need a reminder on covariance, take a peek at Chapter 4, “Expression
Evaluation, Laziness & More About Functions”.

3. FCons<T> as the second way to represent FList<T> : a head with another

FList<T> as tail . Note how Nil is the default tail .

Note: The name Cons comes from the word “Constructor”. For this reason,
one of the names for FList<T> is ConsList<T> .

FList<T> builders
In Kotlin, you can create different collection implementations using some
builder methods. For instance, you create a read-only list of Int with:

val readOnlyList = listOf(1,2,3)

You create a mutable map with:

val mutableMap = mutableMapOf(1 to "One", 2 to "Two")

What builder function would you create for FList<T> ? Open Builders.kt and
write the following code:

fun <T> fListOf(vararg items: T): FList<T> { // 1

val tail = items.sliceArray(1 until items.size) // 2
return if (items.isEmpty()) Nil else FCons(items[0],
fListOf(*tail)) // 3
}

This code allows you to create FList<T> using the following syntax:

fun main() {
// ...
val flist = fListOf(1, 2, 3)
}
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In the previous code:

1. You define fListOf as a builder function using a vararg parameter for

values of type T . It’s important to note how the return type is FList<T> .

2. The type for the vararg parameter is actually an Array , so in this case,
items has the type Array<T> . You then use sliceArray for getting
another array containing everything but the first element. If the initial array
is empty or contains just one element, tail will also be the empty
Array<T> .

3. If items is empty, you return Nil . Otherwise, you return FCons<T> where
head is the first element, and tail is the FList<T> you get, invoking
fListOf recursively on the sliced array.

Note: Note the use of the spread operator * , which allows you to use the
values in an array as if they were a list of multiple vararg input parameters.

Safer FList<T> builders

Now, add the following code to main in the same FList.kt file:

fun main() {
// ...
val emptyList = fListOf() // ERROR
}

In this case, you have an error because you’re not providing the specific value
for the type parameter T . An easy fix would be to provide what’s missing, like
this:

fun main() {
// ...
val emptyList = fListOf<Int>()
}

But you know the empty list Nil is the same for every type, so the Int
information should be obsolete. In this case, you have two different options:

1. Use Nil directly.

2. Use fListOf() as a parameter of another function, taking advantage of the

type inference the Kotlin compiler provides.

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Add this code to main as an example:

fun main() {
val emptyList = Nil // 1
val singleElementFList = FCons(2, fListOf()) // 2
}

In this code:

1. You use Nil directly.

2. You use fListOf when Kotlin is already expecting FList<Int> because of
the FCons<T> you use for singleElementFList .

In the second point, there’s a problem, though. singleElementFList ’s type is

FCons<T> and not FList<T> . How can you prevent the direct use of Nil and
FCons<T> , forcing all the clients to use them through a reference of type
FList<T> ?

You already solved a similar problem in Exercise 6.1 in Chapter 6, “Immutability

& Recursion”. Comment out all the code in Builders.kt, open FList.kt and
replace the FList<T> definition with the following:

sealed class FList<out T> {

companion object { // 1
@JvmStatic
fun <T> of(vararg items: T): FList<T> { // 2
val tail = items.sliceArray(1 until items.size)
return if (items.isEmpty()) {
empty()
} else {
FCons(items[0], of(*tail))
}
}

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): FList<T> = Nil // 3
}
}

internal object Nil : FList<Nothing>() // 4

internal data class FCons<T>(
val head: T,
val tail: FList<T> = Nil
) : FList<T>() // 5

In this code, you:

1. Use a companion object to define of and empty .

2. Implement of as the replacement for the previous fListOf . This allows

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you to use FList.of() syntax. The body is very similar to the fListOf you
saw earlier. You replaced fListOf with of and Nil with the invocation of
empty .

3. Define empty as a builder for the empty list Nil . It’s important to see how
the return type is FList<T> . This simplifies the use of empty() in the
following examples.

4. Create Nil as an internal object .

5. Define FCons<T> as an internal data class .

To try this code, open Main.kt and add:

fun main() {
val emptyList = FList.empty<Int>() // 1
val singleElementList = FList.of(1) // 2
val singleElementList2 = FCons(1, emptyList) // 3
val twoElementsList = FList.of(1, 2) // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Create emptyList using FList.empty<Int>() , which still needs a type to

help the compiler with type inference.

2. Use FList.of to create singleElementList with one element.

3. Create another FList<Int> with a single element using FCons<T> passing

emptyList as a second parameter.

4. Use FList.of with two Int values to properly create an FList<Int> with
two elements.

Declaring Nil and FCons<T> as internal has the advantage of hiding the actual
implementations in code in different modules and, as you’ll see very soon, this
might cause some problems. To understand what, it’s very useful to introduce
the concept of pattern matching.

Pattern matching
A simple exercise can help you understand what pattern matching is and how it
can be helpful. Suppose you want to implement size as a function that returns
the number of elements in a given FList<T> . Open Accessor.kt and write the
following code:

// DOESN'T COMPILE IN ANOTHER MODULE

fun <T> FList<T>.size(): Int = when (this) { // 1
is Nil -> 0 // 2
is FCons<T> -> 1 + tail.size() // 3
}

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Because Nil and FCons<T> are internal , the previous code wouldn’t
compile if implemented in a different module. However, you should note a few
interesting things. Here, you:

1. Define the size extension function, which should return the number of
elements in FList<T> . The result value is the evaluation of a when
expression on this .

2. Return 0 if the current FList<T> is Nil , which is the empty FList<T> .

3. If the current FList<T> isn’t Nil , it means it has a head and tail .
size is then the size of the tail + 1 .

As said, this code wouldn’t compile if written in a different module because

Nil and FCons<T> are internal classes. This doesn’t allow the use of the is
keyword to test if a reference of type FList<T> is actually Nil or FCons<T> .
In the latter case, you’d also need a way to get the reference to head and tail .
You need something very similar to what, in languages like Swift or Scala, is
called pattern matching. Something that would make this pseudo-code compile
is:

when(list){
Nil -> {}
(head, tail) -> {}
}

Unfortunately, that syntax doesn’t work yet with Kotlin, and it probably never
will.

Note: Kotlin provides very limited pattern matching. For instance, if you
release the constraint to have Nil and FCons<T> internal , you can make
the previous code for size compile and, for FCons<T> , the tail property
would be available as a consequence of the smart casting.

However, you can still do something to achieve a similar result. Open FList.kt
and add the following code:

fun <T, S> FList<T>.match( // 1

whenNil: () -> S, // 2
whenCons: (head: T, tail: FList<T>) -> S // 3
) = when (this) {
is Nil -> whenNil() // 4
is FCons<T> -> whenCons(head, tail) // 5
}

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In this code, you:

1. Define the match higher-order function as an extension of FList<T> . This

function has two type parameters: T and S . T is the type for FList<T> .
S is the type of result of the expression you want to evaluate if Flist<T> is
Nil or FCons<T> .

2. Declare the first parameter whenNil as the lambda you want to evaluate if
the FList<T> receiver is Nil . The lambda whenNil evaluates in a value of
type S .

3. Define the second parameter, whenCons , as the lambda you want to evaluate
if the FList<T> receiver is FCons<T> . Again, the lambda whenCons
evaluates to a value of type S . Here, it’s important to note how whenCons
accepts head and tail as input parameters.

4. Check if the receiver FList<T> is Nil , retuning the evaluation of

whenNil .

5. Use the smart casting Kotlin provides to extract head and tail if the
receiver value is FCons<T> and use them as input parameters for
whenCons .

Because you define match in FList.kt, is Nil and is FCons<T> are

available. Now, return to Accessor.kt, and replace the previous implementation
of size with the following:

fun <T> FList<T>.size(): Int = match(

whenNil = { 0 }, // 1
whenCons = { head, tail -> 1 + tail.size() } // 2
)

Here, you implement size , returning the result of the match function
evaluating:

1. { 0 } if FList<T> is Nil .

2. {1 + tail.size()} if the receiver is FCons<T> .

To test the size function, just add the following code to the same file and run:

fun main() {
println(FList.empty<Int>().size())
println(FList.of(1).size())
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3).size())
}

You’ll get the following output:

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0
1
3

Exercise 7.1: Implement the extension function isEmpty() , which returns

true if FList<T> is empty and false otherwise.

Try to answer these questions without the support of IntelliJ and check your
solutions in Appendix G or the challenge project.

Note: The match function allows you to make the selection of the different
states more explicit. FList<T> can be Nil or FCons<T> . You’ll use it many
times in the rest of the chapter, but you could do the same directly using
Nil and FCons<T> and leveraging Kotlin’s smart cast. Remember, you can
use Nil and FCons<T> only in this module because of their internal
visibility.

Other FList<T> accessors

You can use the match function you created earlier in the implementation of
most of the functions you’ll see in the following paragraphs. Another simple
function is the one returning Flist<T> ’s head . Open Accessor.kt and add the
following code:

fun <T> FList<T>.head(): T? = match(

whenNil = { null }, // 1
whenCons = { head, _ -> head } // 2
)

In this case, you use match , returning:

1. null if the receiver is Nil .

2. head if the receiver is FCons<T> .

Again, you can easily test this by adding the following code to main in the same
file:

fun main() {
// ...
println(FList.empty<Int>().head())
println(FList.of(1).head())
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3).head())
}

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Run it, and check that you get the following output:

null
1
1

Exercise 7.2: Implement the extension function tail() , which returns the
tail of a given FList<T> .

Iteration
Iterating over a collection is one of the most important features a data structure
provides. How would you allow clients to iterate over the elements in
FList<T> ? The List<T> interface provides the forEach higher-order
function. Open Iteration.kt and add the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3).forEach {
println(it)
}
}

Of course, running this code, you’ll get:

1
2
3

To implement the same forEach for your FList<T> , add the following code to
the same file:

fun <T> FList<T>.forEach(fn: (T) -> Unit): Unit = match( // 1

whenNil = {}, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail -> // 3
fn(head)
tail.forEach(fn)
}
)

Here, you define forEach :

1. With the lambda function fn as an input parameter. The lambda fn

receives the current element of type T as input.

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2. If the receiver is Nil , you do nothing.

3. If the receiver isn’t Nil , you invoke fn(head) and then recursively invoke
forEach on the tail .

Run the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
FList.of(1, 2, 3).forEach {
println(it)
}
}

And you’ll get:

1
2
3

Exercise 7.3: Kotlin provides forEachIndexed for the Iterable<T> interface,

which accepts as input a lambda of type (Int, T) -> Unit . The first Int
parameter is the index of the item T in the collection. To test
forEachIndexed , run the code:

listOf("a", "b", "c").forEachIndexed { index, item ->

println("$index $item")
}

Getting the following output:

0 a
1 b
2 c

Can you implement the same for FList<T> ?

Exercise 7.4: Another option to implement forEachIndexed is to make

FList<T> an Iterable<T> . How would you do that? To make all the code
coexist in the same codebase, call the Iterable<T> version IFList<T> with
INil and ICons<T> .

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Mutators
You just implemented some interesting functions to access elements in
FList<T> or iterate over them. Now, it’s time to do something even more
interesting that will allow you to actually add or remove elements and update
the immutable singly linked list.

Inserting
In this chapter’s introduction, you saw, with some illustrations, how to add
elements at the head of FList<T> . Later, in Exercise 7.5, you’ll implement
addHead . Implementing append to add an element at the end of FList<T> is a
little more challenging because it implies copying the initial list to a new one.
Open Mutator.kt and add the following code:

fun <T> FList<T>.append(newItem: T): FList<T> = match( // 1

whenNil = { FList.of(newItem) }, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail ->
FCons(head, tail.append(newItem)) // 3
}
)

In this code, you:

1. Define append as an extension function of FList<T> with a single input

parameter newItem of type T . You still use match .
2. Create a new FList<T> if the current value is Nil , with the value to append
as the only element. This will be the tail of the new FList<T> you’re
building.
3. Create a new FCons<T> when the current reference is FCons<T> , using
head as the initial value and the list you get by appending newItem to
tail .

To test the previous code, run:

fun main() {
val initialList = FList.of(1, 2)
val addedList = initialList.append(3)
initialList.forEach {
print("$it ")
}
println()
addedList.forEach {
print("$it ")
}
}

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You’ll get:

1 2
1 2 3

To help visualize what’s happening, think of it like this:

(1, (2, ())).append(3) // 1

(1, (2, ()).append(3)) // 2
(1, (2, ().append(3))) // 3
(1, (2, (3, ()))) // 4

Here:

1. You start invoking append(3) on an FList<Int> of 2 elements. Note how

the last tail is Nil , represented by () above.
2. The first element is still 1 , and the tail is the one you get, invoking
append(3) on the previous tail .

3. Again, you invoke append(3) on the tail , which is Nil . This creates an
FList<Int> with the only element 3 .

4. The result is a new FList<Int> of 3 elements.

Exercise 7.5: Implement addHead , which adds a new element at the head of
an existing FList<T> .

Filtering
In the previous chapters, you met the filter function that lets you select
elements using some predicate. How would you implement the filter
function for FList<T> ? In Filter.kt, add the following code:

typealias Predicate<T> = (T) -> Boolean // 1

fun <T> FList<T>.filter(predicate: Predicate<T>): FList<T> = match(

whenNil = { FList.empty() }, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail ->
if (predicate(head)) {
FCons(head, tail.filter(predicate)) // 3
} else {
tail.filter(predicate) // 4
}
}
)

Here, you:

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1. Define Predicate<T> , which you met in previous chapters.

2. Implement filter using the match function. When the receiver is Nil ,
you return the empty list using FList.empty() . You could also return Nil
directly here.
3. Evaluate the predicate on head when the receiver isn’t empty. If it evaluates
to true , you return FList<T> using the same head and what you get
invoking filter on the tail .
4. Return what you get invoking filter on the tail if the predicate doesn’t
evaluate to true on the head .

To test the previous code, run:

fun main() {
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
.filter { it % 3 == 0 }
.forEach { println(it) }
}

This filters the values that are multiples of 3 in FList<Int> . In this case, the
output is:

3
6
9

Exercise 7.6: Kotlin defines the take function on Iterable<T> that allows
you to keep a given number of elements. For instance, running the following
code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
.take(3)
.forEach { print("$it ") }

You’d get:

1 2 3

Can you implement the same take function for FList<T> ?

Exercise 7.7: Kotlin defines the takeLast function on Iterable<T> that

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allows you to keep a given number of elements at the end of the collection.
For instance, running the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
.takeLast(3)
.forEach { print("$it ") }

You’d get:

8 9 10

Can you implement the same takeLast function for FList<T> ?

Why FList<T> is a persistent data structure

So far, you’ve met the descriptors immutable, functional and persistent for
data structures, and it’s important to quickly emphasize what they are:

Immutable data structure: This data structure can’t change after it’s been
created. This means you can’t replace a value in a specific position with
another or remove another element. When performing this kind of
operation, you need to get another immutable data structure, as you’ve seen
for other immutable objects in Chapter 6, “Immutability & Recursion”.

Functional data structure: This is a data structure you can interact with
using only pure functions. For instance, you get a new FList<T> filtering
the data of another one using a predicate you represent using a pure
function. As you learned in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”,
a pure function doesn’t have any side effects and is represented using a
referentially transparent expression. In the following chapters, you’ll see
many other functions like map , flatMap and others.
Persistent data structure: This data structure always preserves the previous
version of itself when it’s modified. They can be considered immutable, as
updates aren’t in place. The FList<T> you implemented in this chapter is
persistent. You see this when you add a new value. The existing object is still
there, and it just becomes the tail of the new one.

Challenges
In this chapter, you had a lot of fun implementing some of the classic functions
you find in collections for the singly linked list FList<T> . You also had the
chance to use the recursion skills you learned in Chapter 6, “Immutability &

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Recursion”. Why not implement some more functions?

Challenge 7.1: First and last

Kotlin provides the functions first and last as extension functions of
List<T> , providing, if available, the first and last elements. Can you implement
the same for FList<T> ?

Challenge 7.2: First and last with predicate

Kotlin provides an overload of first for Iterable<T> that provides the first
element that evaluates a given Predicate<T> as true . It also provides an
overload of last for List<T> that provides the last element that evaluates a
given Predicate<T> as true . Can you implement firstWhen and lastWhen
for FList<T> with the same behavior?

Challenge 7.3: Get at index

Implement the function get that returns the element at a given position i in
FList<T> . For instance, with this code:

fun main() {
println(FList.of(1,2,3,4,5).get(2))
}

You’d get:

Because 3 is the element at index 2 . Consider 0 the index of the first

element in FList<T> .

Key points
An immutable data structure is a data structure that can’t change after it’s
been created.

A functional data structure is a data structure you can interact with using
only pure functions.

A persistent data structure is a data structure that always preserves the

previous version of itself when it’s modified.
Kotlin doesn’t have pattern matching, but you can achieve something

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similar using the smart cast feature.

FList<T> is the implementation of a singly linked list and is a very

common example of a functional, immutable and persistent data structure.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you had a lot of fun implementing the
FList<T> functional data structure. You had the chance to apply what you
learned in Chapter 6, “Immutability & Recursion”, for implementation of the
most common higher-order functions like filter , forEach , take and many
others. It’s crucial to say that these are just the first, and many others will come
in the following chapters. In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you’ll get to add more
functions for FList<T> . For now, it’s time to dive deep into the concept of
composition. See you there!

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8 Composition
Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned that category theory is the

theory of composition, which is probably the most important concept in
functional programming. In this chapter, you’ll learn why composition is
crucial. In particular, you’ll learn how to:

Implement function composition in Kotlin.

Use curry and uncurry to achieve composition with multi-input parameter
functions.
Implement partial application and learn why it’s useful.

Compose functions with side effects.

Handle mutation as a special case of side effects.

As usual, you’ll do this by writing Kotlin code with some interesting exercises
and challenges.

Composition in Kotlin
In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you implemented the function in
Composition.kt:

inline infix fun <B, C, A> Fun<B, C>.after(

crossinline f: Fun<A, B>
): Fun<A, C> = { a: A ->
this(f(a))
}

after uses the Fun<A, B> typealias you defined like:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

Another way to see this is:

inline infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, B>.compose(

crossinline g: Fun<B, C>
): Fun<A, C> = { a: A ->
g(this(a))
}

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To revise how they work, write and run the following code Composition.kt:

fun main() {
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 } // 1
val square = { a: Int -> a * a } // 2
val stringify = Int::toString // 3
val stringifyDoubleSquareAfter =
stringify after square after double // 4
val stringifyDoubleSquareCompose =
double compose square compose stringify // 5
println(stringifyDoubleSquareAfter(2)) // 6
println(stringifyDoubleSquareCompose(2)) // 6
}

Here, you:

1. Define double as a function that doubles the Int passed in. This is a pure
function.

2. Define square as another pure function returning the square of the Int
passed as input.
3. Assign the reference of the toString function of Int to stringify .

4. Use after to create stringifyDoubleSquareAfter as a composition of

double , square and toString .

5. Use compose to create stringifyDoubleSquareCompose as another

composition of double , square and toString .
6. Invoke stringifyDoubleSquareAfter and stringifyDoubleSquareCompose ,
passing the value 2 in input and printing the result.

When you run the code, you get:

16
16

The two functions return the same value, which isn’t as obvious of an outcome
as it seems. This works because, as you learned in Chapter 2, “Function
Fundamentals”, types and pure functions create a category and associativity is
one of the three properties.

Compose multi-parameter functions

So far, so good. But in the previous example, you had very simple functions with
one input parameter and one output parameter. How would you compose, for
instance, the following functions? Copy these into Curry.kt to explore:

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fun main() {
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 } // 1
val square = { a: Int -> a * a } // 1
val sum = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b } // 2
val stringify = Int::toString // 3
}

In this case:

1. double and square are the same two pure functions for calculating the
double and the square of an Int value you saw earlier. The output type is
Int .

2. sum is a pure function with two input parameters of type Int . The return
value is of type Int as well, and it’s the sum of the input values.

3. stringify is the same function you met earlier that returns the String
representation of the Int input value.

So, how would you compose double and square with sum to return a
function that makes the sum of the double and the square of a couple of
Int values, as you see in Figure 8.1?

b
square
b*b
a*2+b*b
sum stringify
a*2
a
double

Figure 8.1: Composition of functions with multiple input parameters

You want to create a function equivalent to the following expression:

stringify(sum(double(10), square(2)))

To do this, you need to use a magic function: the curry function. You’ll prove
the curry function from a mathematical point of view in Chapter 10, “Algebraic
Data Types”. In this case, you’ll use it to understand why, so far, you’ve only
considered functions with a single input parameter. The truth is that single input
parameter functions are all you need. Every function with multiple parameters
can be represented as a higher-order function of a single parameter.

Note: The term “curry” comes from Haskell Curry, a renowned American
mathematician and logician. His first name, Haskell, is also the name of one
of the most important functional programming languages.

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Before writing the generic curry function, how would you represent sum as a
function of a single parameter? In the same Curry.kt file, write the following
code:

fun sum(a: Int): (Int) -> Int = { b: Int ->

a + b
}

Here, you define sum as a higher-order function with a single input parameter
that returns, as a result, another function of type (Int) -> Int . To
understand how this works, add the following code to main in Curry.kt and
run it:

val addThree = sum(3) // 1

val result = addThree(4) // 2
println(result) // 3

Here, you:

1. Use sum as a function with a single input parameter of type Int , which
returns another function you save in addThree . In this case, addThree is a
function that adds 3 to the value you pass in.

2. Invoke addThree , passing 4 as an input parameter, getting 7 as the

result.

3. Print the result.

You get:

You may not know, but you just practiced currying!

Now, you need to answer the following two questions:

1. How do you write curry as a generic function?

2. How do you use curry to solve the problem in Figure 8.1?

It’s time to have some more fun with higher-order functions.

A generic curry function

In the previous section, you implemented a version of sum that receives an
Int as input and returns a function of type (Int) -> Int that adds the new

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parameter value to the initial value. Now it’s time to implement curry as a
generic function.

In the same Curry.kt file, add the following code:

typealias Fun2<A, B, C> = (A, B) -> C

Here, you define Fun2<A, B, C> as an alias of a function of two input

parameters of types A and B , returning a value of type C . In the same file,
add the following code:

fun <A, B, C> Fun2<A, B, C>.curry(): (A) -> (B) -> C = { a: A -> //
1
{ b: B -> // 2
this(a, b) // 3
}
}

Here:

1. You define curry as an extension function of Fun2<A, B, C> . The return

value is a function with a single input parameter a of type A .

2. The return value of the function in 1 is another function that, this time, has
an input parameter b of type B .
3. Finally, the internal function has a body with the invocation of this , using
the parameters a and b .

To understand how this works, write the following code in Curry.kt:

fun main() {
// ...
val curriedSum = sum.curry() // 1 (Int) -> (Int) -> Int
val addThree = curriedSum(3) // 2 (Int) -> Int
val result = addThree(4) // 3 Int
println(result) // 4
}

Note: You should use the two-parameter version of sum you used earlier:

val sum = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }

This code is very similar to what you implemented earlier. Here, you:

1. Use curry to get the curried version of sum . The type of curriedSum is

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(Int) -> (Int) -> Int .

2. Invoke curriedSum , passing 3 as input and getting a function of type

(Int) -> Int , which you save in addThree . This is the function that adds
3 to the value you pass in.

3. Invoke addThree , passing 4 as input.

4. Print the result, 7 .

Run the previous code, and you get:

The sum example is pretty simple. But how can you solve the problem in Figure
8.1?

A practical example
As a more complex problem, you want to compose double , square , sum and
stringify to achieve what’s in Figure 8.1 and represent the following
expression:

stringify(sum(double(10), square(2)))

In the same Curry.kt file, add the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
fun comp(a: Int, b: Int): String { // 1
val currySum: (Int) -> (Int) -> Int = sum.curry() // 2
val doubleComposeSum: (Int) -> (Int) -> Int =
double compose currySum // 3
val right: (Int) -> Int = doubleComposeSum(a) // 4
return (square compose right compose stringify)(b) // 5
}

fun comp(a: Int, b: Int): String { // 1

val right = (double compose sum.curry())(a) // 2
return (square compose right compose stringify)(b) // 3
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define an internal function, comp , which is a function of two Int

parameters, a and b , to implement what’s in Figure 8.1: double a ,
square b , add the results and convert to a String .

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2. Curry sum to create a single input parameter version.
3. Compose double with the curried version of sum . Remember, double has
type (Int) -> Int and sum.curry has type (Int) -> (Int) -> Int . This
means the composition has type (Int) -> (Int) -> Int .
4. Invoke the composition with input a . As a result, you get a function of type
(Int) -> Int in right . This function allows you to add an Int to a
defined value that, in this case, is the result of double(a) .
5. Invoke the result with the value of the input parameter b . Because now
right has type (Int) -> Int , you can easily compose it with square and
stringify .

To test the previous function, just add and run the following code in main :

println(comp(10, 2))

Which gives you:

24

This is the correct result of 10*2 + 2*2 !

In the comp implementation, you might complain that it has too many
parentheses. Can you remove some of them? Of course, you can! In the same
Curry.kt file add the following code:

infix fun <A, B> A.pipe(f: Fun<A, B>): B = f(this)

Note: Some developers don’t like using infix operators like pipe and
prefer using parentheses. It’s also sometimes difficult to find a name
everybody agrees on. Languages that allow you to create custom operators
usually represent the pipe with |> .

This is a Kotlin infix extension function of a type A accepting a function f

of type Fun<A, B> as an input parameter. The implementation is simple and
just invokes the function f to the receiver itself, getting a value of type B .

This simple function allows you to replace the previous comp implementation
with the following:

fun comp(a: Int, b: Int): String = b pipe

(square compose (a pipe
(double compose sum.curry())) compose stringify)

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Kotlin doesn’t let you decide the precedence between compose and pipe , so
you still need some parentheses. But here, you can represent all of comp with
an expression on a single line.

That’s quite a loaded expression! Take a moment to break it down piece by piece
to help you understand it.

For more practice, try out the following exercises and use Appendix H to check
your solutions.

Exercise 8.1: Earlier, you implemented the generic curry function that
basically maps a function of type (A, B) -> C in a function of type (A) ->
(B) -> C . Can you now implement the uncurry function, which does the
inverse? It’s a function that maps a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C into a
function of type (A, B) -> C .

Exercise 8.2: Implement a higher-order function flip that maps a function

of type (A, B) -> C into the function (B, A) -> C , flipping the order of the
input parameters.

Exercise 8.3: The curry function maps a function of type Fun2<A, B, C>
into a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C . How would you define an overload of
curry for functions of three, four, five or, in general, n parameters?

Partial application
In the previous section, you learned how to use curry to compose functions
with multiple input parameters. This is very useful, but, as you saw in Exercise
8.3, it can also be cumbersome in the case of many parameters. Additionally,
most of the time, you don’t need to use just a single parameter at a time. To
understand this concept, write this code in Partial.kt:

fun interface Logger { // 1

fun log(msg: String)
}

fun interface Calculator { // 2

fun multiply(a: Double, b: Double): Double
}

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fun interface DB { // 3
fun save(result: Double)
}

fun interface CalculatorFactory { // 4

fun create(db: DB, logger: Logger): Calculator
}

val calculatorFactoryImpl =
CalculatorFactory { db, logger -> // 5
object : Calculator {
override fun multiply(a: Double, b: Double): Double {
val result = a * b
db.save(result)
logger.log("$a * $b = $result")
return result
}
}
}

This is object-oriented code, and in particular, you define:

1. The Logger interface with the log operation.

2. Calculator as an interface for the multiply operation.

3. DB , simulating a database for persisting a value.

4. CalculatorFactory as a factory method implementation for the

Calculator given a DB and Logger .

5. calculatorFactoryImpl as an implementation of CalculatorFactory ,

returning a Calculator implementation that uses Logger to log the
operations and DB to persist the result.

The diagram in Figure 8.2 gives you an idea of the dependencies:

«interface»
CalculatorFactory

+create(db: DB, logger: Logger):Calculator «interface»

Calculator

«creates» +multiply(a: Double,b:Double):Double

«interface»
«object» «depends»
DB
CalculatorFactorylmpl
+save (result:Double)

+multiply ( a: Double, b:Double):Double

«interface»
Logger

+ log(str: String)

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Figure 8.2: CalculatorFactory implementation

Add the following code to the same file as an example of the use of
calculatorFactoryImpl :

fun main() {
val db = DB { // 1
println("Saving value: $it")
}
val simpleLogger = Logger { // 2
println("Logging: $it")
}
val fileLogger = Logger { // 3
println("Logging on File: $it")
}
val calculator1 =
calculatorFactoryImpl.create(db, simpleLogger) // 4
val calculator2 =
calculatorFactoryImpl.create(db, fileLogger) // 4
println(calculator1.multiply(2.0, 3.0)) // 5
println(calculator2.multiply(2.0, 3.0)) // 5
}

Here, you:

1. Create a simple DB implementation that just prints a message.

2. Do the same for Logger .

3. Create a different implementation for Logger . This one, you put in

fileLogger .

4. Create two different Calculator implementations. calculator1 uses the

same DB as calculator2 but a different Logger implementation. To
create the Calculator s, you use the same calculatorFactoryImpl object.

5. Use calculator1 and calculator2 , printing the result.

Running main , you get:

Saving value: 6.0

Logging: 2.0 * 3.0 = 6.0 // HERE
6.0
Saving value: 6.0
Logging on File: 2.0 * 3.0 = 6.0 // HERE
6.0

As you see, the log differs in the output for the Logger implementation.

Is there a better way to create two different Calculator implementations that

differ only in the Logger used? Yes, with partial application.
CalculatorFactory defines the create function, which accepts two different

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parameters.

In the previous example, the value for the first parameter is the same for both
Calculator implementations. The second is different. The idea of partial
application is mapping the create function in CalculatorFactory in a
different function with a single input parameter that returns a function of the
second parameter, as you’ve seen in curry .

To understand how this works, replace the second part of main with the
following:

fun main() {
// ...
val partialFactory = calculatorFactoryImpl::create.curry() // 1
val partialFactoryWithDb = db pipe partialFactory // 2
val calculator1 = partialFactoryWithDb(simpleLogger) // 3
val calculator2 = partialFactoryWithDb(fileLogger) // 3
println(calculator1.multiply(2.0, 3.0)) // 4
println(calculator2.multiply(2.0, 3.0)) // 4
}

Here, you:

1. Define partialFactory as the function you get by applying curry to the

create function of calculatorFactoryImpl .

2. Partially apply some of the parameters in common between all the

Calculator implementations you want to create. You create this by
invoking partialFactory with db as a unique parameter and saving the
resulting function in partialFactoryWithDb .

3. Use partialFactoryWithDb to create calculator1 and calculator2 . Note

how you get them by invoking partialFactoryWithDb and passing only the
parameters that are different, which is the Logger implementation.

4. Use calculator1 and calculator2 and print their results.

Running the previous code, you get the same output.

The previous example is very simple and starts from a function with just two
input parameters. Partial application is more powerful when the number of
input parameters is high. You noticed how the order of the parameters is
significant. You could play with flip and the overloads of curry , but this
would make the code very complicated. That’s why it’s important to keep partial
application in mind when you design your functions.

Note: You might have noticed some similarities between the previous
example and what happens with dependency injection. What you’ve seen is

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an example of how to handle dependency injection in a functional way. In this
case, object-orientated and functional programming aren’t so different.
Partial application is basically what Dagger calls “assisted injection”.
Dependency injection is outside the scope of this book, but if you want to
learn all about it, Dagger by Tutorials is the right place for you.

Designing for partial application

As mentioned earlier, partial application is more powerful when the function
has many input parameters. You understand how the order of the parameters is
important. Just imagine you have a function of six parameters, and you’d like to
partially apply just the first, third and last parameters. Using curry and flip
is possible, but it would make the code unreadable. On the other hand, it’s very
difficult to know how the function will eventually be partially applied, so what
you can do is put the parameters:

1. Less likely to change first.

2. More likely to change last.

Often, existing functions already follow this pattern, which is handy for you.

As a final tip on this topic, you should also consider that having functions with
too many parameters is generally bad practice.

Compose functions with side effects

What you’ve seen so far about composition involves pure functions, which are
functions without any side effects and whose bodies are referentially
transparent expressions. But what happens if the function isn’t pure because of
some side effects? To understand what happens, start with a simple pure
function and add some side effects later.

Note: If you need a reminder about pure functions or referential

transparency, skip back to Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”.

Open SideEffects.kt and add the following code:

fun pureFunction(x: Int) = x * x - 1

This is a basic function that removes 1 from the square of the input. It doesn’t
really matter what this function does, but you know that:

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1. x * x - 1 is a referentially transparent expression.
2. It has no side effects because you can invoke pureFunction(5) infinite
times, and you’ll always get the same result as output, as you can see when
you run the following code:

fun main() {
pureFunction(5) pipe ::println
pureFunction(5) pipe ::println
pureFunction(5) pipe ::println
}

Getting:

24
24
24

So far, so good. Now, it’s time to add a side effect with the following code you
write in the same file:

fun functionWithEffect(x: Int): Int { // 1

val result = x * x - 1 // 2
println("Result: $result") // 3
return result // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define functionWithEffect , which returns the same result as

pureFunction but has a side effect.

2. Calculate and store the result in result .

3. Use println to print a log message, which is a side effect.

4. Return the result .

Now, test functionWithEffect by running the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
functionWithEffect(5) pipe ::println
functionWithEffect(5) pipe ::println
functionWithEffect(5) pipe ::println
}

The output is:

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Result: 24
24
Result: 24
24
Result: 24
24

As you see, with the same input value, pureFunction and

functionWithEffect return the same value as output. However, they’re
different because functionWithEffect also logs some messages in the
standard output. As you learned in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming
Concepts”, running functionWithEffect changes the world because of a side
effect. Because of this, functionWithEffect isn’t pure.

It’s important to note, again, how the result value doesn’t tell you anything
about the side effect, which you can see only because of the console. You might
also think that it’s not so bad because it’s just a message in the standard output.

The problem is that this is just an example, and a side effect could be something
more important, like writing to a database or file or sending a request to a
server. Reading the function signature, you don’t have any information about
what the side effect is. More importantly, how would you test the
functionWithEffect function? This isn’t the only problem.

Side effects break composition

In Chapter 11, “Functors”, you’ll learn all about the map function. But to whet
your appetite a little, map is a function that allows you to apply a function to all
the elements in a container. To understand how it works, run the following code
in the same SideEffect.kt file.

fun main() {
// ...
listOf(1, 2, 3) // 1
.map(::pureFunction) pipe ::println // 2, 3
}

Here, you:

1. Use listOf to create a List<Int> of three elements.

2. Invoke map , passing the reference to pureFunction .

3. Print the result.

Running the previous code, you get:

[0, 3, 8]

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This is the List<Int> you get when invoking pureFunction on each element
of the initial input. The map function has a very important property that says:

map(f).map(g) === map(f compose g)

This says that invoking map with the function f first and then with the
function g is equivalent of invoking map on the composition of f and g .
This means you can prove this by running the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(::pureFunction).map(::pureFunction) pipe ::println
listOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(::pureFunction compose ::pureFunction) pipe ::println
}

And getting:

[-1, 8, 63]
[-1, 8, 63]

It’s interesting to test if the same is true for functionWithEffect . To see, you
just need to run the following code:

fun main() {
//...
listOf(1, 2,
3).map(::functionWithEffect).map(::functionWithEffect) pipe
::println
listOf(1, 2, 3).map(::functionWithEffect compose
::functionWithEffect) pipe ::println
}

This time, the output is:

Result: 0 // 1
Result: 3 // 2
Result: 8 // 3
Result: -1 // 4
Result: 8 // 5
Result: 63 // 6
[-1, 8, 63] // 7
Result: 0 // 1
Result: -1 // 2
Result: 3 // 3
Result: 8 // 4
Result: 8 // 5
Result: 63 // 6
[-1, 8, 63] // 7

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This time, you can see how the output for rows 2, 3 and 4 are different. They’re
different because in the first example, all of the contents of the list are
transformed using the first invocation of functionWithEffect before working
through the second.

Where, in the second example, the first element is transformed by the

composed functionWithEffect s before moving to the second element.

This means that the side effect you get from the composition isn’t the
composition of the side effect. This is proof that functions with side effects don’t
compose. How can you solve this problem, then?

Note: Using map with the composition is also an improvement in

performance because it allows you to iterate over the elements in List<T>
just once.

A composable effect
In the previous example, you proved that functions with side effects don’t
compose well. One of the reasons is that composition means using the result of
a first function as the input of the second. If the side effect isn’t part of the
output, this makes composition difficult. What about removing the side effect
from the body of the function and passing the same information as part of the
value as output?

In the same SideEffects.kt file, add the following code you already met in part
in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”:

fun functionWithWriter(x: Int): Pair<Int, String> { // 1

val result = x * x - 1 // 2
return result to "Result: $result" // 3
}

1. Now, you define functionWithWriter as a function that returns Pair<Int,

String> .

2. The first Int property of the resulting Pair<Int, String> is the same
result as functionWithEffect .

3. The second String property is the message you used to print in

functionWithEffect .

Now, functionWithWriter doesn’t have any side effects, but the String you

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want to print is part of the output. This makes functionWithWriter a pure
function. functionWithWriter doesn’t print anything, but it delegates the
responsibility of handling the side effect to the caller. But now you have a bigger
problem: functionWithWriter doesn’t compose with itself, and the following
code doesn’t compile:

// DOESN'T COMPILE
val compFunWithWriter =
::functionWithWriter compose ::functionWithWriter

This is because the compose function you created doesn’t match the signature
of functionWithWriter , which has an Int as input type and a Pair<Int,
String> as output. You know how to fix this, remembering that
compFunWithWriter is basically a Writer<Int> where:

typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

In Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you also learned how to

implement the compose function for Writer . In the same SideEffects.kt file,
along with the previous typealias , write the following code:

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<A, B>.compose( // 1

g: Writer<B, C>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A -> // 2
val (b, str) = this(a) // 3
val (c, str2) = g(b) // 4
c to "$str\n$str2\n" // 5
}

Here, you:

1. Define compose as an extension function of Writer<A, B> that accepts

another Writer<B, C> as an input parameter.

2. Return a function with a parameter of type A .

3. Invoke the receiver with a and, using de-structuring, get the two parts of
the resulting Pair<Int, String> respectively in Int b and String
str .

4. Invoke g , passing the value of b you got at the previous instruction, de-
structuring the result in c and String str2 again.

5. Return Pair<Int, String> using the result c and the concatenations of

str and str2 .

Now, this code will compile:

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// NOW COMPILES!
val compFunWithWriter =
::functionWithWriter compose ::functionWithWriter

Of course, you can compose multiple functions of type Writer<T> , as you can
see by running the following code:

fun main() {
val square = { a: Int -> a * a } // 1
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 } // 1
val squareFunAndWrite = square compose ::functionWithWriter // 2
val doubleFunAndWrite = double compose ::functionWithWriter // 3
val compFunWithWriter = squareFunAndWrite compose
doubleFunAndWrite // 4
compFunWithWriter(5).second pipe ::println // 5
}

Here, you:

1. Define square and double as simple lambda expressions.

2. Define squareFunAndWrite as composition of square and

functionWithWriter .

3. Define doubleFunAndWrite as composition of double and

functionWithWriter .

4. Define compFunWithWriter as a composition of squareFunAndWrite and

compFunWithWriter .

5. Finally, invoke compFunWithWriter , printing the result of the second

property.

You’ll get:

Result: 624
Result: 1557503

As you learned in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, this is

something related to the Kleisli category, but it’s also a very important pattern
in the world of functional programming.

A common composition pattern

What you saw in the previous example is a common pattern in functional
programming, and it works with different types of functions. Instead of
handling composition for the type:

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typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

How would you implement composition of the following type you define by
adding this to GeneralComposition.kt:

typealias Opt<A, B> = (A) -> B?

In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you’ll learn much more about the optional type
along with many other fundamental data types. In this case, it’s interesting to
see how you’d compose functions of type Opt<A, B> .

You might think you can use the existing compose function because Opt<A,
B> is somehow included in the following, considering the B of Fun<A, B> as
the B? of Opt<A, B> :

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

But the following code doesn’t compile:

data class User(val id: Int, val username: String)

fun main() {
val strToInt = { str: String ->
try {
str.toInt()
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
null
}
}
val findUser = { id: Int ->
if (id == 3) User(3, "Max") else null
}
val strToUser = strToInt compose findUser // DOESN'T COMPILE
}

The reason is that strToInt returns an optional Int? but findUser accepts
an Int . You can repeat the same pattern you learned for Writer<T> by adding
the following compose function:

infix fun <A, B, C> Opt<A, B>.compose( // 1

g: Opt<B, C> // 2
): Opt<A, C> = { a: A -> // 3
val b = this(a) // 4
if (b != null) { // 5
g(b) // 6
} else {
null // 7
}
}

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In this function, you:

1. Define compose as an infix extension function of Opt<A, B> .

2. Declare g as the input parameter of type Opt<B, C> .

3. Return a function with the input parameter a of type A and Opt<A, C> as
the output type.

4. Invoke the receiver function with the value of a . What you get is an optional
B? .

5. Check if b is null.

6. Invoke g with b and return the result of type C? if b isn’t null.

7. Return null if b is null .

In the previous code, you understand how the logic in the body of the function
might be different, but it follows a common pattern you’ll see many more times
in the following chapters.

Note: Notice how similar this pattern is to using the Kotlin safe-call operator.
The difference is that your above compose is composing functions rather
than simply calling a function on an object.

Now, update main like this:

fun main() {
val strToInt = { str: String ->
try {
str.toInt()
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
null
}
}
val findUser = { id: Int ->
if (id == 3) User(3, "Max") else null
}
val strToUser = strToInt compose findUser // 1
strToUser("a") pipe ::println // 2
strToUser("2") pipe ::println // 3
strToUser("3") pipe ::println // 4
}

Here, you:

1. Create strToUser as a composition of strToInt and findUser . Now,

strToUser returns null if either strToInt or findUser returns null .

2. Use strToUser for an invalid user ID.

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3. Use strToUser for a missing user ID.

4. Use strToUser for an existing user ID.

Run the code, and you get:

null
null
User(id=3, username=Max)

Where only the third case returns something that isn’t null .

Exercise 8.4: How would you apply the previous pattern for Array<T> ?
Basically, you need a way to compose functions of type:

typealias ToArray<A, B> = (A) -> Array<B>

In other words, if you have two functions:

val fun1: (A) -> Array<B>

val fun2: (C) -> Array<C>

Can you implement compose so that the following will compile and fun2 is
applied to all elements resulting from fun1 ?

fun1 compose fun2

Give it a try, and check your solution with the one in Appendix H.

Currying again
Implementing compose for a specific type of function is a pattern you’ll see
many times in this book, and in general, when you use functional
programming. In the previous example, you learned how to compose a function
with a particular side effect. The overloaded println function you used for
printing Int values is a function of type (Int) -> Unit . You also used the
overload of type (String) -> Unit . In any case, it’s a function with a String
input and Unit as output. Open CurryAgain.kt and write the following code:

fun functionWithAnotherEffect(x: Int): String {

val result = x * x - 1
return "Result: $result calculated on
${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
}
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This function isn’t pure because the expression it represents isn’t referentially
transparent. It depends on some external state that, in this case, you access
through the currentTimeMillis method of System . To prove that, just add
and run the following code:

fun main() {
functionWithAnotherEffect(5) pipe ::println
functionWithAnotherEffect(5) pipe ::println
}

And you get something similar to:

Result: 24 calculated on 1632737433997

Result: 24 calculated on 1632737434014

Every time you invoke functionWithAnotherEffect with the same input, you
get different values as output. So, how would you make
functionWithAnotherEffect pure, and how would you handle composition?

In the println example, you had a function of type (Int) -> Unit and you
just moved the input for the effect to the output. Now, the function
System::currentTimeMillis has type () -> Long . A possible solution is
moving the value you get from System::currentTimeMillis to an input
parameter like this:

fun functionWithAnotherEffect(time: Long, x: Int): String {

val result = x * x - 1
return "Result: $result calculated on $time"
}

Now, functionWithAnotherEffect is pure because the output depends only on

the input parameters. This allows you to test the function very easily. Just
replace the previous main with the following:

fun main() {
functionWithAnotherEffect(123L, 5) pipe ::println
functionWithAnotherEffect(123L, 5) pipe ::println
}

Run it, and you’ll get what you expect:

Result: 24 calculated on 123

Result: 24 calculated on 123

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At this point, you need to solve two problems:

1. You don’t always want to pass a first parameter value to

functionWithAnotherEffect . You only need it when you’re testing the
function. When you just want to use it, you don’t always want to pass the
value you get from System.currentTimeMillis() .
2. You broke composition.

The first problem is easy to solve using Kotlin’s optional parameter. Just update
functionWithAnotherEffect like this:

fun functionWithAnotherEffect(
time: Long = System.currentTimeMillis(), x: Int
): String {
val result = x * x - 1
return "Result: $result calculated on $time"
}

Now, you can run this code where you used the explicit value as input for the
time parameter just when you want to test functionWithAnotherEffect .

fun main() {
functionWithAnotherEffect(x = 8) pipe ::println
functionWithAnotherEffect(123L, 5) pipe ::println
functionWithAnotherEffect(123L, 5) pipe ::println
}

Here, you’ll get:

Result: 63 calculated on 1632738736781 // FOR NORMAL USE

Result: 24 calculated on 123 // FOR TEST
Result: 24 calculated on 123 // FOR TEST

What about composition, then? Well, that problem is solved with just a little bit
of curry!

Just note how ::functionWithAnotherEffect has type:

(Long, Int) -> String

This means that ::functionWithAnotherEffect.curry() has type:

(Long) -> (Int) -> String

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To get the function to use during tests, you just need to use the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
val forTesting = 123L pipe ::functionWithAnotherEffect.curry() //
1
forTesting(5) pipe ::println // FOR TEST // 2
forTesting(5) pipe ::println // FOR TEST // 2
}

Here, you:

1. Invoke curry on ::functionWithAnotherEffect and then invoke the

resulting function with an input value of type Long , which is the time value
you use during tests.
2. Verify that the output is always the same for the same input.

Running the previous code, you get what you’d expect:

Result: 24 calculated on 123

Result: 24 calculated on 123

For ::functionWithAnotherEffect , you can reuse all the things you learned in
the section “Compose multi-parameter functions”.

Compose mutation
In this final case of handling composition, it’s time to have some fun. The goal is
to handle composition when the side effect of a function implies mutation. To
understand how this works, open Mutation.kt and add the following code:

data class MutableCounter( // 1

var count: Int = 1
)

val counter = MutableCounter() // 2

fun squareWithMutationEffect(x: Int): Int { // 3

val result = x * x
counter.count *= 10
return result
}

fun doubleWithMutationEffect(x: Int): Int { // 4

val result = x * 2
counter.count /= 2
return result
}

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The code is quite easy to understand. Here:

1. MutableCounter is a mutable data class wrapping a simple count variable

of type Int , initialized to 1 .

2. You create counter as a MutableCounter instance.

3. squareWithMutationEffect is a simple function that returns the square of
the input Int . It also has a side effect that multiplies the current value in
the MutableCounter by 10 .
4. doubleWithMutationEffect is another simple function that doubles the
input Int and divides the current value of the counter by 2 as a side
effect.

You have the same problem you solved in the section “A common composition
pattern”, but now the effect is a mutation of a shared state you represent with an
instance of MutableCounter .

How can you now make squareWithMutationEffect and

doubleWithMutationEffect pure and somehow compose the effects? What if
you also handle mutation using immutable objects instead? It looks quite
challenging, but you can actually do this with what you’ve learned so far.

First, comment out squareWithMutationEffect and

doubleWithMutationEffect and add the following code:

typealias Updater<T> = (T) -> T // 1

fun squareWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, Updater<MutableCounter>> {

// 2
val result = x * x // 3
return result to { counter -> counter.count *= 10; counter } // 4
}

fun doubleWithEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, Updater<MutableCounter>> {

// 2
val result = x * 2 // 3
return result to { counter -> counter.count /= 2; counter } // 4
}

Things are getting more interesting. In this code, you:

1. Define Updater<T> as the abstraction of any function that maps objects in

another object of the same type. Of course, identity would be a special case of
Updater<T> because it wouldn’t do anything.

2. Replace squareWithMutationEffect and doubleWithMutationEffect with

squareWithEffect and doubleWithEffect , respectively, which differ for
the return type that’s now Pair<Int, Updater<MutableCounter>> . first

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is the result of the function and second is the function you need to run on
MutableCounter to update its state.

3. Calculate the result.

4. Return Pair<Int, Updater<MutableCounter>> using a lambda expression
as Updater<MutableCounter> .

Now, here’s the interesting part. How would you compose functions like this?
The types squareWithEffect and doubleWithEffect are similar to Writer<A,
B> , but in that case, it was defined as:

typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

Now, the second element of the Pair<A, B> isn’t String , but Updater<S> .
This doesn’t change so much because you can apply what you learned in the
section “A common composition pattern”.

In the same Mutation.kt file, add the following code:

typealias WithMutation<A, B, S> = (A) -> Pair<B, Updater<S>>

This defines WithMutation<A, B, S> as the counterpart of Writer<A, B> for

this use case:

A and B are respectively the input and output of a function.

S is the type of object for the function to mutate.

Using this, you can finally write the compose overload like this:

inline infix fun <A, B, C, S> WithMutation<A, B, S>.compose(

crossinline g: WithMutation<B, C, S> // 1
): WithMutation<A, C, S> = { a: A -> // 2
val (b, op) = this(a) // 3
val (c, op2) = g(b) // 4
c to (op compose op2) // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Define compose as an infix extension function of WithMutation<A, B, S>

in the usual way.
2. Return a function with the input parameter a of type A .
3. Invoke the receiver, passing a and de-structuring the result in a variable b
of type B and a function op of type Updater<S> .

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4. Invoke g , passing b as an input parameter. Using de-structuring, you get
the result you save in c of type C along with the Updater<S> you save in
op2 .

5. Return Pair<C, Updater<S>> where the second property is the composition

of op and op2 .

Remember, the definition of Updater<S> is basically a Fun<S, S> for which

you already have a compose overload.

As a quick test, add and run the following code:

fun main() {
val composed = ::squareWithEffect compose
::doubleWithEffect compose ::squareWithEffect // 1
val counter = MutableCounter() // 2
val (result, compUpdate) = composed(3) // 3
result pipe ::println // 4
counter pipe compUpdate pipe ::println // 5
}

Here, you:

1. Use compose to compose ::squareWithEffect with ::doubleWithEffect

and then ::squareWithEffect again.
2. Save the shared mutable state in counter . Its type is MutableCounter .

3. Use de-structuring to get the result in result and the composed mutation
in compUpdate .
4. Print the value of result .

5. Apply compUpdate to counter and print the current state.

Run the code, and you get:

324 // 1
MutableCounter(count=50) // 2

This is because:

1. The result of ((3 * 3) * 2) * ((3 * 3) * 2) is 18 * 18 .

2. The counter starts at 1 . Then, you multiply by 10 , getting 10 . Next, you

divide by 2 , getting 5 . Finally, you multiply by 10 again, getting 50 .

Of course, the client is responsible for the execution of the effect. But, can you
do something better? Of course, you can. Do you really need a
MutableCounter ?

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Composition with immutable objects

In the previous example, you used MutableCounter , but the good news is that
you don’t have to change much if you want to use an immutable Counter .
Open ImmutableComposition.kt, and add the following code:

data class Counter( // 1

val count: Int = 1
)

fun squareWithImmutableEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, Updater<Counter>>

{
val result = x * x
return result to { counter -> Counter(counter.count * 10) } // 2
}

fun doubleWithImmutableEffect(x: Int): Pair<Int, Updater<Counter>>

{
val result = x * 2
return result to { counter -> Counter(counter.count / 2) } // 3
}

fun main() {
val composed = ::squareWithImmutableEffect compose
::doubleWithImmutableEffect compose
::squareWithImmutableEffect
val counter = Counter() // 4
val (result, compUpdate) = composed(3)
result pipe ::println
counter pipe compUpdate pipe ::println
}

This code has a few significant differences from the one in the previous section:

1. You define Counter as an immutable class.

2. squareWithImmutableEffect doesn’t change the current shared and

mutable state. However, it creates a new Counter using the data of the one
in input.

3. doubleWithImmutableEffect does the same, creating a new Counter .

4. You print the result in the same way as the previous example.

Run this code, and you get:

324
Counter(count=50)

This is the same result you got using MutableCounter , but this time you used
Counter , which is immutable.

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Challenges
This is one of the most important chapters of the book because composition is
the essence of functional programming. You already did some interesting
exercises, so now it’s time for a couple challenges.

Challenge 8.1: Callable stuff

In this chapter, you learned how to implement the compose function in
different scenarios following a common pattern. Consider, now, the following
function type:

typealias WithCallable<A, B> = Fun<A, Callable<B>>

How would you implement compose for WithCallable<A, B> ? This is using
java.util.concurrent.Callable defined as:

interface Callable<V> {
@Throws(Exception::class)
fun call(): V
}

Challenge 8.2: Parameters or not parameters?

Suppose you have the following functions:

val three = { 3 } // 1

val unitToThree = { a: Unit -> 3 } // 2

In this code:

1. three is a function of type () -> Int , returning 3 .

2. unitToThree is a function of type (Unit) -> Int , also returning 3 .

They look like the same function, but they’re actually not. This is because you
need a Unit to invoke unitToThree . This also has consequences when you
compose. Consider the following code:

fun main() {
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 } // 1
val comp2 = unitToThree compose double // 2 COMPILE
val comp1 = three compose double // 3 DOESN'T COMPILE
}

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Here, you:

1. Define a simple double function.

2. Compose unitToThree with double . This compiles.

3. Try to compose three with double . This doesn’t compile.

The reason is that you don’t have any compose overload with the type () -> T
as a receiver. The type (Unit) -> T instead falls into Fun<A, B> .

Can you implement a higher-order function, addUnit , that converts a function

of type () -> T in the equivalent (Unit) -> T and removeUnit that does the
opposite? Using these functions, how would you fix the code in the previous
main ?

Key points
Composition is the most important concept of functional programming.

Category theory is the theory of composition.

Functions with a single input parameter are all you need. Using curry, each
function with multiple parameters can be mapped into higher-order
functions of a single parameter.

The name curry comes from Haskell Curry, an American mathematician

and logician.

Partial application is a generalized version of currying. It allows you to

decide what parameters to provide initially and what to provide later.

You can think of partial application as a way to implement dependency

injection in a functional way.
The Kleisli category helps you understand how to implement composition
of functions with side effects. The idea is to bring the effect as part of the
return type, but this usually breaks composition.
Writer<T> leads you to a general pattern in the implementation of
composition.
You can use the same pattern to manage composition of functions that
contain mutation logic.

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Where to go from here?

Wow! In this chapter, you’ve done a great job! Congratulations. Composition is
probably the most fascinating part of functional programming and gives you a
lot of gratification when you see your code compile and work.

This chapter completes the first section of the book. In the following section,
you’ll enter the core of functional programming, starting with the concept of
data types. See you there!

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

9 Data Types
Written by Massimo Carli

In the first section of the book, you learned about the concept of type. In
particular, you learned that a type for a variable is a way to represent the set of
possible values you can assign to it. For instance, saying that a is an Int
means you can assign only integer values to a . The same is true for more
complex types like String or custom types like User and so on.

In this chapter, you’ll meet data types, another crucial concept that’s somewhat
orthogonal to the concept of type. For instance, the Optional<T> data type is a
classic example. It represents the concept of either having an object of type T
or not, and doesn’t depend on what T actually is.

In particular, you’ll learn:

What a data type is.

How to define the Optional<T> data type.

The Optional<T> type in the context of data types.

What lift , map and flatMap functions are.
The common and important data types List<T> and Either<A, B> .

What the fold and foldRight functions are and why they’re useful.

As always, you’ll learn all this using the Kotlin language and some fun exercises
and challenges.

What is a data type?

In the first section of the book, you learned the crucial definition of a type. You
saw that a type is basically a way to represent a set of values you can assign to a
variable or, in general, use in your program. Consider, for instance, the
following code:

var a: Int = 10
var s: String = "Hello World!"
var b = true

Here, you can say that:

1. a is a variable of type Int . This means you can assign only integer values

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to a .
2. s is of type String , and you can assign any possible String you can
create in Kotlin.
3. You can assign to the Boolean variable b only a value of either true or
false .

A type doesn’t just tell you what value you can assign but also what you can’t. In
the previous code, you can’t assign true to a , for instance.

You also learned that types and functions together make a category, which
is the pillar of composition.

A data type is a different concept that uses the previous types as type
parameters. In general, you represent them as M<T> in the case of a single type
parameter. Other data types have multiple parameters. For example, you
represent a data type with two type parameters as M<A, B> .

As you’ll see, you can think of a data type as a container that provides some
common functions so you can interact with its content. The best way to
understand data types is by providing some examples, starting with a classic:
Optional<T> .

The Optional<T> data type

As mentioned earlier, you can often think of a data type as a container that
provides some context. Optional<T> is a classic example because it represents
a container that can either:

Contain a single element of type T .

Be empty.

Open Optional.kt and write this code:

sealed class Optional<out T> { // 1

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <T> lift(value: T): Optional<T> = Some(value) // 4

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): Optional<T> = None // 5
}
}

object None : Optional<Nothing>() // 2

data class Some<T>(val value: T) : Optional<T>() // 3

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In this code, you:

1. Define Optional<T> as a sealed class. Note that it has a type parameter T ,

and it’s covariant.
2. Define None as an object representing the case when the container is empty.
All empty containers are the same, and you need the type parameter to be
covariant, so you inherit from Optional<Nothing> .
3. Define Some<T> as a data class with a single property of type T .
4. Use some factory methods to get an object of type Some<T> as an
Optional<T> . The first method is lift , which allows you to get
Optional<T> from a given value of type T .

5. Do the same for None with empty() .

Note: If you need a reminder about covariance, look back at Chapter 4,

“Expression Evaluation, Laziness & More About Functions”.

But how can you use the Optional<T> data type? A simple test can help.

Using Optional<T>
In OptionalTest.kt, add the following code:

fun strToInt(value: String): Optional<Int> = // 1

try {
Optional.lift(value.toInt()) // 2
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
Optional.empty() // 3
}

fun double(value: Int): Int = value * 2 // 4

In this code, you:

1. Create strToInt as a function that accepts a String and wants to return

the Int value in it. This operation can fail, so the return type is an
Optional<Int> .

2. Return Some<Int> with the Int value in case of success.

3. Return None in case of error.
4. Define double as a simple function from Int to Int .

Now, how would you implement code that doubles the value you get from
strToInt ? A first solution is the following:

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fun main() {
val res = strToInt("10") // 1
when (res) {
is Some<Int> -> { // 2
val res2 = double(res.value)
println("Result is $res2")
}
is None -> println("Error!") // 3
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Invoke strToInt , passing a valid String , getting an Optional<Int>

returned, which you store in res .

2. Check the result and, if it’s a Some<Int> , you pass the value to double and
print the result.

3. Print an error message in case of error.

Run the code, and you get:

Result is 20

To test the error, just pass a value to strToInt that isn’t a valid Int , like:

val res = strToInt("10aaa")

Running this code, you get:

Error!

The previous code isn’t the best, though. You invoke strToInt and then use a
verbose when expression to understand what to do next. Of course, you can do
better.

Using lift, map and atMap

In the previous example, you have strToInt , which is a function of type
(String) -> Optional<T> . You want to compose this with double of type
(Int) -> Int . Of course, you can’t, because double accepts an Int and
strToInt provides an Optional<Int> . To solve this problem, you have two
main options. The first is:

1. Use strToInt to get an Optional<Int> .

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2. Check if it’s a Some<Int> and get the Int in it.

3. Pass the Int to double .

The second — and better — option is:

1. Lift String to an Optional<String> .

2. Apply a transformation to the Optional<String> , getting an
Optional<Int> .

3. Apply the double transformation to Optional<Int> , getting another

Optional<Int> .

4. Extract the contents of Optional<Int> , or a default value if it’s missing.

The first option is the one you already implemented in the previous paragraph.
It’s time to implement the second, then. You call the first step lift because
you’re basically taking a value of type T and “lifting” it to an object of type
M<T> . In this case, M represents the Optional data type, but you’ll also find
the lift function in other data types.

Figure 9.1 describes what you’ll implement:

flatMap map
Optional<String> Optional<Int> Optional<Int>

getOrValue()
lift()

String Int

Figure 9.1 - Lift with Optional<T>

In the same OptionalTest.kt file, replace the previous main with the following.
A keen eye might note that it won’t compile yet:

fun main() {
// ...
Optional
.lift("10")
.flatMap(::strToInt) // 1
.map(::double) // 2
.getOrDefault(-1) // 3
.pipe(::println)
}

Note: You’ll find the pipe definition you learned in Chapter 8, “Composition”
in Definitions.kt in the material for this project.
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At the moment, this code doesn’t compile because you need to implement:

1. flatMap
2. map
3. getOrDefault

You’ll learn all about map and flatMap in Chapter 11, “Functors” and Chapter
13, “Understanding Monads”, respectively. At the moment, it’s important to
have an idea of how they work to make the previous code compile.

Implementing map
Starting with the map function, you see that it receives a function of type
Fun<A, B> as input and returns an Optional<B> . Remember that:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

To better understand how it works, add the following code in Optional.kt:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): Optional<B> = // 1

when (this) {
is None -> Optional.empty() // 2
is Some<A> -> Optional.lift(fn(value)) // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define map as an extension function for Optional<A> . Note how it accepts

a function of type Fun<A, B> and returns an Optional<B> .

2. Check if the receiver is None . If it is, the result is also None . Note how you
use Optional.empty() , which allows you to return an Optional<B> by type
inference.

3. Use lift to return Some<B> , passing the result of the invocation of the
function fn .

One function down. Next is flatMap .

Implementing atMap
While double is a Fun<Int, Int> , strToInt has type Fun<Int,
Optional<Int>> , making it incompatible with map . You need something more.

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Add this code to Optional.kt:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.flatMap(

fn: Fun<A, Optional<B>>
): Optional<B> = when (this) { // 1
is None -> Optional.empty() // 2
is Some<A> -> {
val res = fn(value) // 3
when (res) {
is None -> Optional.empty() // 4
is Some<B> -> Optional.lift(res.value) // 5
}
}
}

This code is a little more complex. Here:

1. You define flatMap as an extension function of Optional<A> . Note how it

accepts a parameter of type Fun<A, Optional<B>> and returns an
Optional<B> .

2. You check if the receiver is None . In this case, you just return
Optional.empty() .

3. Otherwise, invoke fn on the value in Some<B> and check its result.

4. If it’s None , you return Optional.empty() .

5. If it’s Some<B> , you return a new Optional<B> , using the same result and
the lift function.

Note how even though fn already returns Optional<B> , you’re still wrapping
the result in a new Optional<B> instance. This is because every function
should return a new immutable object.

Great! One more function to go before you can compile your code.

Implementing getOrDefault
To ensure the previous code compiles, you also need to add getOrDefault to
Optional.kt:

fun <A> Optional<A>.getOrDefault(defaultValue: A): A =

when (this) { // 1
is None -> defaultValue // 2
is Some<A> -> value // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define getOrDefault as an extension function for the Optional<A> type.

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Note how it accepts a value of type A .

2. Check the current receiver and return defaultValue if it’s None .

3. Return value if the receiver is Some<A> .

Now, the previous code in OptionalTest.kt compiles. Run it, and you get:

20

To check the case with the default value, replace the previous main with the
following:

Optional
.lift("10aa")
.flatMap(::strToInt)
.map(::double)
.getOrDefault(-1)
.pipe(::println)

Run it, and you get:

-1

A quick review
In the previous section, you met three of the most critical concepts in
functional programming. You’ll learn more about them in the following
chapters. In particular, you learned:

What a data type is and in what sense it behaves as a container.

How to interact with the content of the container the data type represents
using map . You’ll learn all about functors in Chapter 11, “Functors”. For
now, it’s important to understand that invoking map on a data type M<A>
passing a function of type Fun<A, B> as a parameter, you’ll get M<B> .

How to interact with the content of a data type M<A> using a function of type
Fun<A, M<B>> . In this case, map doesn’t work. Instead, you need a function
called flatMap . You’ll learn all about flatMap in Chapter 13,
“Understanding Monads”. So far, you just need to understand that invoking
flatMap on a data type M<A> passing a function of type Fun<A, M<B>> as a
parameter, you’ll get M<B> .

Now, it’s time to learn the most common and important data types while
implementing for them lift , map , flatMap and the equivalent of
getOrDefault .

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But first, here are some exercises to test your new knowledge! You can find
solutions in Appendix I and the challenge matterials for this chapter.

Exercise 9.1: In this chapter, you learned what the Optional<T> data type is,
and you implemented some important functions for it, like lift , empty ,
map and flatMap . Kotlin defines its own optional type represented by ? .
How would you implement the lift , empty and getOrDefault functions for
it?

Exercise 9.2: In this chapter, you learned what the Optional<T> data type is,
and you implemented some important functions for it, like lift , empty ,
map and flatMap . Kotlin defines its own optional type represented by ? .
How would you implement the map and flatMap functions for it?

Exercise 9.3: How would you replicate the example you implemented in
OptionalTest.kt using T? instead of Optional<T> ? Use the solutions of
Exercise 9.1 and Exercise 9.2 to implement this example.

The List<T> data type

So far, you’ve learned that you can think of a data type as a container with a
specific context. The context of an Optional<T> is about something that can be
there or not. Another fundamental data type is List<T> . In this case, the
context is the ability to contain an ordered list of items. It’s important to say that
Kotlin already provides the functions you implemented for Optional<T> and
T? .

Open ListTest.kt and add the following code:

fun countUpTo(value: Int) = List(value) { it } // 1

fun main() {
val emptyList = emptyList<Int>() // 2
val intList = listOf(1, 2, 3) // 3
intList.map(::double).forEach(::println) // 4
println("---")
intList.flatMap(::countUpTo).forEach(::println) // 5
}

In this code, you have examples of:

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1. Defining countUpTo , which is a function of type Fun<Int, List<Int>> .
countUpTo just generates a List<Int> with values from 0 to the value
you pass in input. It doesn’t really matter what this function does; the type of
countUpTo is what matters.

2. Creating an empty List<Int> using the emptyList builder function.

3. Using listOf to create a List<Int> .

4. Using map to apply the double function to all the elements of a

List<Int> . Note that you invoke the map function on List<Int> , and you
get another List<Int> .

5. Using flatMap , passing the reference to countUpTo .

When you run that code, you get:

2 // 1
4
6
---
0 // 2
0
1
0
1
2

As you can see:

1. map returns a new List<Int> that contains values that are the double of
the values of the original list.

2. flatMap returns a List<Int> of the List<Int> you get applying

countUpTo to each element. The flat in the name also gives the idea that you
don’t get a List<List<Int>> , but the values of the list you get from
countUpTo are flattened in a single List<Int> .

Folding
List<T> has a couple of magic functions that are very important and useful in
the implementation of other functions. To see why, open Folding.kt and add the
following code:

fun List<Int>.imperativeSum(): Int {

var sum = 0
for (i in 0 until size) {
sum += this[i]
}
return sum
}

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Note: In Chapter 12, “Monoids & Semigroups”, you’ll learn even more about
the fold functions.

At this point, you’re probably disappointed because this function calculates the
sum of all the values in a List<Int> using an imperative approach. In Chapter
5, “Higher-Order Functions”, you learned how to use a declarative approach,
and in Chapter 6, “Immutability & Recursion”, you learned how to use recursion
to achieve immutability. In any case, the previous code teaches you that you
basically accumulate the different values of the list in a sum variable. You can
also use that in your tests to check if other implementations are correct. Run
this code:

fun main() {
val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
list.imperativeSum() pipe ::println
}

And you get the following output, which is the sum of the first ten positive
integers.

55

Note: If you want to have some fun, you can use the following expression as
an alternative way of printing the result of imperativeSum .

List<Int>::imperativeSum compose ::println epip list

You already have pipe , epip and compose in the Composition.kt and
Definitions.kt files in the material for this chapter.

With all this in mind, add the following code:

fun List<Int>.declarativeSum(): Int {

tailrec fun helper(pos: Int, acc: Int): Int {
if (pos == size) {
return acc
}
return helper(pos + 1, this[pos] + acc)
}
return helper(0, 0)
}

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You’re basically doing the same as the imperative approach but using helper
as a tailrec function receiving as input the index pos of the current value in
the list and acc as the current sum. In this case, there’s no mutation, and the
approach is declarative. Test declarativeSum by running this code:

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

list.declarativeSum() pipe ::println

And getting the same result:

55

So far, so good. But this code works only for Int s. You can do much better. To
understand how, add the following code for a function that calculates the
product of the values in a List<Int> :

fun List<Int>.declarativeProduct(): Int {

tailrec fun helper(pos: Int, acc: Int): Int {
if (pos == size) {
return acc
}
return helper(pos + 1, this[pos] * acc)
}
return helper(0, 1)
}

Run:

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

list.declarativeProduct() pipe ::println

And you get:

3628800

Note that declarativeProduct follows the same pattern as declarativeSum

with some crucial differences:

1. Of course, declarativeSum calculates the sum and declarativeProduct

the product. More importantly, they differ in the way you accumulate all the
elements into a sort of… accumulator, acc . In declarativeSum , you add
the current value to acc . In declarativeProduct , you multiply the current
value by acc .
2. In declarativeSum , the initial value for the accumulator is 0 . In

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declarativeProduct , the initial value is 1 .

From the previous observations, you entail that you can represent
declarativeProduct and declarativeSum using a common abstraction
accepting as input something that tells where one differs from the other. In this
case:

1. The initial value for the accumulator.

2. How you combine each element with the current value you’ve accumulated.

In the same Folding.kt file, add the following code:

fun <T, S> List<T>.declarativeFold(

start: S,
combineFunc: (S, T) -> S
): S { // 1
tailrec fun helper(pos: Int, acc: S): S { // 2
if (pos == size) {
return acc
}
return helper(pos + 1, combineFunc(acc, this[pos])) // 3
}
return helper(0, start) // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define declarativeFold as an extension function of List<T> , which

accepts as an input parameter an initial value of type S for the accumulator
and a function of type (S, T) -> S that tells how you combine an element
with the accumulator itself. Note how the return type is S , which is the type
of the accumulator.

2. Implement a helper function with two input parameters. The first is the
position pos of the current element you’re evaluating. The second is the
current value acc for the accumulator. If you reach the end of the list, you
return the current value for the accumulator, acc . Note how helper is a
tailrec function.

3. Call helper recursively for the next position, pos + 1 , if you’re not at the
end of List<T> . Note how the value for the accumulator is what you get by
invoking combineFunc with the current acc value and the current
element.
4. Invoke helper from the first position, 0 , and the initial value, start .

With this function, you can run the following code:

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list.declarativeFold(0) { acc, item ->
acc + item
} pipe ::println
list.declarativeFold(1) { acc, item ->
acc * item
} pipe ::println

Getting the output you’d expect:

55
3628800

In this case, you invoke the same declarativeFold function, passing:

1. 0 as initial value { acc, item -> acc + item} as a combine function for
the sum.

2. 1 as initial value { acc, item -> acc * item} as a combine function for
the product.

As mentioned at the beginning of this section, you’ll see how powerful this
function is. Before proceeding, it’s also important to say that List<T> already
has a fold function with the same signature as declarativeFold , which you
created with a different name to avoid conflicts.

This means you can use the existing fold like in this code:

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

list.fold(0) { acc, item -> acc + item } pipe ::println
list.fold(1) { acc, item -> acc * item } pipe ::println

Getting exactly the same result:

55
3628800

The Kotlin List<T> also provides a foldRight method, which differs in how
the combination happens. It’s very important to look at this function as well.

Folding right
Imagine you have a list of objects, and you want to group them together. To do
this, you have two different options. You can:

Start from the first element and accumulate the other objects as soon as you
iterate over them.

Start from the first element and, because you have others, put that object

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aside and go to the next one. You repeat this operation until you get the last
object. Then, you start to take the most recent object you put aside and
combine it with the one you have in your hands. You repeat this operation
until you combine the object you put aside first.

Some code can probably help. Consider the following code you wrote earlier,
using a shorter list to save some space.

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

list.declarativeFold(0) { acc, item -> acc + item } pipe ::println

In this code, you use declarativeFold to calculate the sum of the first 5
integers you previously put into a List<Int> . It’s useful to see what happens
when you run this code:

(1,2,3,4,5).declarativeFold(0)
helper(0, 0) // 1
helper(1, combineFunc(0, 1)) // 2
helper(2, combineFunc(1, 2)) // 2
helper(3, combineFunc(3, 3)) // 2
helper(4, combineFunc(6, 4)) // 2
helper(5, combineFunc(10, 5)) // 2
15 // 3
15
15
15
15
15

You can see that:

1. Initially, you invoke helper(0, 0) because you start from the index, 0 ,
and the initial value is 0 .
2. When you’re not at the end of the List<Int> , you invoke helper again,
passing the new position, pos + 1 , as the next to evaluate and the new
value for the sum you’re accumulating. To get this, you need to invoke
combineFunc , passing the current value of acc and the current element in
the List<Int> . You do this until you reach the end of the List<Int> .
Because you’re returning the result of the same helper , this is a tailrec
function.

3. At the end of the list, you return the value of acc .

It’s also useful to see how the values in the list are actually aggregated:

combineFunc(combineFunc(combineFunc(combineFunc(combineFunc(0, 1),
2), 3), 4), 5)

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Replacing the combineFunc invocation with + , as an example, you get:

(((((0 + 1) + 2) + 3) + 4) + 5)

Note how you’re accumulating values on the left, taking one new item at a time
from the right. This is why the declarativeFold you implemented is also
called foldLeft .

However, that’s not the only way to implement this. In the same Folding.kt file,
add this code:

fun <T, S> List<T>.declarativeFoldRight(

start: S,
combineFunc: (T, S) -> S
): S { // 1
fun helper(pos: Int): S { // 2
if (pos == size) { // 3
return start
}
return combineFunc(this[pos], helper(pos + 1)) // 4
}
return helper(0)
}

In this case:

1. You define declarativeFoldRight as an extension function of List<T> .

Note how the first parameter is the same initial value for the accumulator as
for declarativeFold . However, the second parameter, combineFunc ,
differs because now the type S is the second parameter. This helps you to
visualize the folding by keeping what you accumulate on the right.

2. The helper function now has a single parameter: the position, pos , of the
current item.

3. When the recursion reaches the end of the list, you return the initial value,
start .

4. If you’re not at the end of the list, you return the result of the invocation of
combineFunc , passing the current item as the first parameter and the result
of the recursive invocation of helper for the following item.

Here’s also a visual representation of what’s happening in this case:

Note: Here, combineFunc is replaced with comb to save some space!

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(1,2,3,4,5).declarativeFoldRight(0)
helper(0)
comb(1, helper(2))
comb(1, comb(2, helper(3)))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, helper(4))))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, comb(4, helper(5)))))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, comb(4, comb(5, helper(6))))))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, comb(4, comb(5, 0)))))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, comb(4, 5))))
comb(1, comb(2, comb(3, 9)))
comb(1, comb(2, 12))
comb(1, 14)
15
15

Using + again in place of the combineFunc invocation, you have:

(1 + (2 + (3 + (4 + (5 + 0)))))

Here, note two main things:

1. The recursive nature of the invocations isn’t tailrec because the

invocation of helper isn’t the last operation.

2. You start combining from the last element and keep adding while returning
from the invocation stack.

Run this code:

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

list.foldRight(0) { item, acc -> acc + item } pipe ::println
list.foldRight(1) { item, acc -> acc * item } pipe ::println

And you get the same result you got previously:

55
3628800

Note: Notice that acc is the second param in the lambda you use as
combineFunc . This is for consistency with the Kotlin foldRight function.

This is true because addition and multiplication are symmetrical, so a + b = b

+ a and a * b = b * a . To see the difference, you just need to use a non-
symmetric function like String concatenation. Run this code:

val list = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

list.map(Int::toString).declarativeFold("") { acc, item ->
acc + item

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} pipe ::println
list.map(Int::toString).fold("") { acc, item ->
acc + item
} pipe ::println
list.map(Int::toString).declarativeFoldRight("") { item, acc ->
acc + item
} pipe ::println
list.map(Int::toString).foldRight("") { item, acc ->
acc + item
} pipe ::println

And see that the results are different when using declarativeFold and
declarativeFoldRight or the existing Kotlin implementations:

12345678910
12345678910
10987654321
10987654321

Here, you can see that using declarativeFold or fold produces a different
result than declarativeFoldRight or foldRight .

Exercise 9.4: Implement a function that reverses a String using one of the
folding functions you’ve implemented in this chapter.

Exercise 9.5: In this chapter, you implemented declarativeFold and

declarativeFoldRight as extension functions for List<T> . How would you
implement them for Iterable<T> ?

What about FList<T>?

In Chapter 7, “Functional Data Structures”, you implemented FList<T> —
whose code is available in FList.kt in this chapter’s material — as an example of
a functional data structure. The existing of is equivalent to the lift function
you learned here. It basically “lifts” the values you pass as a vararg to an
FList<T> . Also, empty already provides the empty FList<T> . But what about
fold , foldRight , map and flatMap ?

Note: Implementing all these functions for FList<T> is a great exercise. Feel
free to try it out on your own, skip this section or come back to it later if you
want and go straight to learning about the Either<A, B> data type. In any
case, see you there!

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Implementing fold and foldRight

In the previous section, you learned what fold and foldRight are, but you
didn’t have any proof of how important these functions are. As a first step, you’ll
implement fold and foldRight for FList<T> . Open FListExt.kt and add the
following code:

tailrec fun <T, S> FList<T>.fold(

start: S,
combineFunc: (S, T) -> S
): S = when (this) { // 1
is Nil -> start // 2
is FCons<T> -> {
tail.fold(combineFunc(start, head), combineFunc) // 3
}
}

In this code:

1. You define fold as an extension function of FList<T> . It accepts an initial

value of type S and a combineFunc of type (S, T) -> S .
2. You use the same pattern you learned in Chapter 7, “Functional Data
Structures”. Here, you test if the current receiver is Nil . If it is, you just
return the initial value, start .
3. Otherwise, you’re combining head with the start value. It’s important to
see that you’re using this combined value as the new starting value when
invoking fold again on the tail . The fold invocation on tail makes
this function tailrec .

Test the previous implementation by running the following code:

fun main() {
val numbers = FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
numbers.fold(0) { acc, item -> acc + item } pipe ::println
numbers.fold(1) { acc, item -> acc * item } pipe ::println
}

You get exactly what you got previously with a List<Int> .

55
3628800

In the same FListExt.kt file, now add this code:

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fun <T, S> FList<T>.foldRight(
start: S,
combineFunc: (T, S) -> S
): S = when (this) {
is Nil -> start
is FCons<T> -> {
combineFunc(head, tail.foldRight(start, combineFunc))
}
}

In this code, note that foldRight isn’t tailrec anymore, similar to its
List<T> counterpart. This is because you return the result of combineFunc .

Test it again by adding this code to main and running it:

FList.of(
*("supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
.toCharArray().toTypedArray())
)
.foldRight(StringBuilder()) { item, acc ->
acc.append(item)
acc
} pipe ::println

Besides the magic of converting a String into an Array<Char> , you’re using

foldRight on the String itself. The output is:

suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus

Implementing map
map is one of the most crucial functions, and you’ll meet it many times when
implementing your code. Its implementation is very simple. In FListExt.kt, add
the following code:

fun <T, S> FList<T>.map(fn: Fun<T, S>): FList<S> = // 1

when (this) {
is Nil -> FList.empty() // 2
is FCons<T> -> FCons(fn(head), tail.map(fn)) // 3
}

This code follows most of the patterns you’ve seen in the previous examples.
Here:

1. You define map as an extension function of FList<T> . It accepts a function

of type Fun<T, S> and returns an FList<S> .
2. You return Nil if the current receiver is Nil .

3. If the current receiver isn’t Nil , it means it has a head of type T . In this
case, you return a new FList<S> where the head is the value of type S

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you get from fn(head) and the tail is what you get by invoking map on it.

To test map , run the following code:

FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.map(::double)
.forEach(::println)

And the output is:

2
4
6
8
10

Implementing atMap
flatMap is probably the most challenging function to implement. It’s also part
of the proof that fold and foldRight should be fundamental elements of
your functional programming skills.

To implement the actual flatMap , you need another function. In FListExt.kt,

add the following code:

fun <T> FList<T>.append(rhs: FList<T>): FList<T> =

foldRight(rhs, { item, acc -> FCons(item, acc) })

As the name says, this appends an FList<T> to another you have as the
receiver. This is another example of the use of the magic foldRight . Here, you:

Start with the FList<T> you want to append as the initial value.

Then, iterate over the elements in the receiver FList<T> , adding it as head
every time.

Run this code in main to test how append works:

val first = FList.of(1, 2, 3)

val second = FList.of(4, 5, 6)
first
.append(second)
.forEach(::println)

You get:

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1
2
3
4
5
6

Finally, in the same file, add the following code:

fun <T, S> FList<T>.flatMap(

fn: Fun<T, FList<S>>
): FList<S> = foldRight(
FList.empty() // 1
) { item, acc ->
fn(item).append(acc) // 2
}

Here’s another use of foldRight . In this code, you:

1. Start with the empty FList<S> .

2. Invoke fn on each item in the receiver, FList<T> , getting an FList<S> .

The value you return is the FList<S> you get by appending the previous
accumulator.

To test this code, run the equivalent example you met earlier with List<T> .
First, add this function:

fun countUpToFList(value: Int) = FList.of(*Array(value) { it })

Here, you define countUpToFList as a simple function that, given a value,

returns an FList<Int> from 1 to the value itself. Note that you’re using the
spread ( * ) operator to pass in an Array for vararg s.

Then, use countUpToFList to test your flatMap in main :

val intList = FList.of(1, 2, 3)

intList.flatMap(::countUpToFList).forEach(::println)

This is similar to what you’ve done in previous chapters.

When you run this code, you get:

0
0
1
0
1
2

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The Either<A, B> data type

Optional<T> , List<T> and FList<T> are examples of data types with a single
type parameter. Life isn’t always so simple, however, and sometimes you need
something more.

While Optional<T> represents a kind of container that can either be empty or

contain an object of type T , there might be a case when the container is never
empty and contains a value of type A or a value of type B . For instance, black
or white, true or false, 1 or 0 or, more philosophically, right or wrong. This data
type is Either<A, B> .

Open Either.kt, and add the following code:

sealed class Either<out A, out B> { // 1

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <A> left(left: A): Either<A, Nothing> = Left(left) // 4

@JvmStatic
fun <B> right(right: B): Either<Nothing, B> = Right(right) // 4
}
}

data class Left<A>(val left: A) : Either<A, Nothing>() // 2

data class Right<B>(val right: B) : Either<Nothing, B>() // 3

In this code, you define:

1. Either<A, B> as a sealed class in the type parameters A and B . Note how
Either<A, B> is covariant for both A and B .

2. Left<A> as a data class containing a value of type A .

3. Right<B> as a data class containing a value of type B .

4. The builders left and right , which return a Left<B> and a Right<A> ,
respectively, as objects of the abstract type Either<A, B> .

The use of a sealed class guarantees that an Either<A, B> can only be an
object Left<A> or Right<B> . But when would this be useful? As mentioned
earlier, a classic example deals with error handling. In this scenario, the name
of the possible values gives a hint. Right<A> is successful, and Left<B>
represents something wrong.

Open EitherTest.kt, and add the following code:

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fun strToIntEither(
str: String
): Either<NumberFormatException, Int> = try {
Either.right(str.toInt())
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
Either.left(nfe)
}

This is another version of the strToInt function that converts a String to

the Int it contains. As you know, this can fail and throw a
NumberFormatException . This would make the function impure because an
exception is a side effect.

In the previous chapters, you learned that you can make a function pure by
moving the side effect as part of the return value. This is what’s happening here.
The only difference now is that the return value is an
Either<NumberFormatException, Int> . In the case of success,
strToIntEither returns Right<Int> . In the case of failure, it returns
Left<NumberFormatException> .

The question now is: How do you interact with this value? The good news is that
you already know the answer. Either<A, B> is a container with an object of
type A or B in it. Every container should provide functions that allow you to
interact with the content. The most important functions are still map and
flatMap . Of course, their meaning is slightly different in the context of
Either<A, B> . You can start simple, with map .

Implementing map
The most important and — fortunately — the easiest functionality to implement
is map . But how can you provide a function of type Fun<A, B> if you don’t
even know if Either<A, B> is Left<A> or Right<B> ? The answer is very
simple: You provide two. Add the following code to Either.kt:

fun <A, B, C, D> Either<A, B>.bimap(

fl: (A) -> C,
fr: (B) -> D
): Either<C, D> = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(fl(left))
is Right<B> -> Either.right(fr(right))
}

As you see, bimap accepts two functions as input parameters. The first, fl , is
the function of type Fun<A, C> — you apply this to the value of type A if
Either<A, B> is Left<A> . fr , however, is a function of type Fun<B,C> —
you apply this if Either<A, B> is Right<B> .

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Note: In Chapter 11, “Functors”, you’ll learn that a data type providing a
function like bimap is a bifunctor.

Sometimes, you don’t want to provide two functions. For this reason,
Either<A, B> should also provide two different map functions.

To see how, just add the following code in the same Either.kt file:

fun <A, B, C> Either<A, B>.leftMap(

fl: (A) -> C
): Either<C, B> = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(fl(left)) // 1
is Right<B> -> this // 2
}

fun <A, B, D> Either<A, B>.rightMap(

fr: (B) -> D
): Either<A, D> = when (this) {
is Right<B> -> Either.right(fr(right)) // 3
is Left<A> -> this // 4
}

In this case:

1. leftMap applies the function of type Fun<A, C> to the value in Left<A> .

2. You return the receiver itself if the receiver is Right<B> .

3. rightMap applies the function of type Fun<B, D> to the value in
Right<A> .

4. You return the receiver itself if the receiver is Left<A> .

Before showing an example using these, it’s helpful to see some accessor
methods.

Implementing accessors
If you think of every data type as a container, it’s often useful to define a
function to get their content, like the getOrDefault function you met earlier.
In this case, you can use different approaches. In Scala, for instance, the
Either<A, B> type provides a getOrDefault only for the Right<B> value.

If you decide to do the same, you can add the following code to the same
Either.kt file:

fun <A, B> Either<A, B>.getOrDefault(

defaultValue: B
): B = when (this) {

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is Left<A> -> defaultValue
is Right<B> -> right
}

This function returns defaultValue if it’s Left<A> and the right value if it’s
Right<B> .

Nothing prevents you from implementing a specific function for Left<A> and
Right<B> , like these you can add to the same file:

fun <A, B> Either<A, B>.getRightOrDefault(

defaultValue: B
): B = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> defaultValue
is Right<B> -> right
}

fun <A, B> Either<A, B>.getLeftOrDefault(

defaultValue: A
): A = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> left
is Right<B> -> defaultValue
}

Defining a flip function that swaps the two types, like this, is also interesting:

fun <A, B> Either<A, B>.flip(): Either<B, A> = when (this) {

is Left<A> -> Either.right(left)
is Right<B> -> Either.left(right)
}

This allows you to use getOrDefault after flip to access the value for
Left<A> . A lot of fun!

These functions allow you to run an example of the use for bimap , mapLeft
and mapRight . Open EitherTest.kt and add the following code:

fun main() {
val squareValue = { a: Int -> a * a }
val formatError = { ex: Exception ->
"Error ${ex.localizedMessage}"
}
strToIntEither("10").bimap(formatError, squareValue) // 1
.getOrDefault(-1).pipe(::println)
strToIntEither("10").bimap(formatError, squareValue) // 2
.flip().getOrDefault("No Error!")
.pipe(::println)
strToIntEither("10").rightMap(squareValue) // 3
.getOrDefault(-1).pipe(::println)
strToIntEither("10aaa").leftMap(formatError) // 4
.getOrDefault("Generic Error").pipe(::println)
}

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You can try different combinations, but here you have examples of using:

1. bimap passing formatError to format the error message in the case of the
Left<A> value, and squareValue to square the value in the case of
Right<B> .

2. bimap with the same formatError and squareValue functions, but using
flip to get the value in the case of Left<A> .

3. rightMap to square the value only in the case of Right<B> .

4. leftMap to format the error message only in the case of Left<A> .

Implementing atMap
As mentioned earlier, Either<A, B> is usually right-biased. This means you
usually find functions like map and flatMap applicable to the Right<B> side
of it, which usually represents success. Left<A> usually represents failure, and
there’s not normally too much to do in this case. For this reason, you’ll
implement flatMap for the Right<B> side. In Either.kt, add the following
code:

fun <A, B, D> Either<A, B>.flatMap(

fn: (B) -> Either<A, D>
): Either<A, D> = when (this) { // 1
is Left<A> -> Either.left(left) // 2
is Right<B> -> {
val result = fn(right) // 3
when (result) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(result.left) // 4
is Right<D> -> Either.right(result.right) // 5
}
}
}

In this case, you:

1. Define flatMap as an extension function for Either<A, B> . Note how the
function fn you pass in as a parameter has type (B) -> Either<A, D> ,
which means the type for Left<A> doesn’t change. In Chapter 12, “Monoids
& Semigroups”, you’ll see much more about this. Finally, the return type is
Either<A, D> .

2. Return a Left<A> if the receiver is already of that type.

3. Invoke fn in the right value if the receiver is a Right<B> , getting an

Either<A, D> .

4. Return a Left<A> if you get a Left<A> as a result of fn .

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5. Finally, return a new Right<D> , using the value of the same type you get
from fn .

As a simple example, add the following code to EitherTest.kt:

fun main() {
val squareValue = { a: Int -> a * a }

strToIntEither("10")
.rightMap(squareValue)
.rightMap(Int::toString)
.flatMap(::strToIntEither) // HERE
.getOrDefault(-1)
.pipe(::println)
}

Running the previous code, you get:

100

Using Either<A, B> in a failure/success scenario is very common, and for this
reason, Kotlin provides the Result<T> data type, which you’ll learn about in
Chapter 14, “Error Handling With Functional Programming”.

Challenges
You’ve already done some interesting exercises dealing with data types. But
here’s an opportunity to have some more fun with a few challenges.

Challenge 9.1: Filtering

How would you implement a filter function on a List<T> using fold or
foldRight ? You can name it filterFold . Remember that given:

typealias Predicate<T> = (T) -> Boolean

The filterFold function for a List<T> should have this signature:

fun <T> List<T>.filterFold(predicate: Predicate<T>): List<T> {

// Implementation
}

Challenge 9.2: Length

How would you implement the length function for a List<T> that returns its

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size using fold or foldRight ?

Challenge 9.3: Average

How would you implement the avg function for a List<Double> that returns
the average of all the elements using fold or foldRight ?

Challenge 9.4: Last

How would you implement the lastFold function for a List<T> that returns
the last element using fold or foldRight ? What about firstFold ?

Key points
A type is basically a way to represent a set of values you can assign to a
variable or, in general, use in your program.

A data type is a way to represent a value in a specific context. You can

usually think of a data type as a container for one or more values.
Optional<T> is a data type that represents a container that can be empty or
contain a value of type T .

lift is the function you use to “elevate” a value of type T into a data type
of M<T> .

map allows you to interact with a value in a data type applying a function.
You’ll learn all about map in Chapter 11, “Functors”.

flatMap allows you to interact with a value in a data type M<T> using a
function that also returns an M<T> . You’ll learn all about flatMap in
Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”.
List<T> is a data type that contains an ordered collection of values of type
T .

fold and foldRight are magical functions you can use to implement
many other functions.
The Either<A, B> data type allows you to represent a container that can
only contain a value of type A or a value of type B .

You usually use Either<A, B> in the context of success or failure in the
execution of a specific operation.
Either<A, B> has two type parameters. For this reason, it defines functions
like bimap , leftMap and rightMap that you apply explicitly on one of the
values.
Some data types with multiple parameters, like Either<A, B> , have

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functions that are biased on one of them. For instance, Either<A, B> is
right-biased and provides functions that implicitly apply to its Right<B>
side.

Where to go from here?

In this chapter, you had a lot of fun and implemented many important functions
for the most important data type. In the following chapters, you’ll see even more
data types and learn about functors and monads in more detail. In the next
chapter, you’ll have some fun with math. Up next, it’s time to learn all about
algebraic data types.

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10 Algebraic Data Types

Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you saw that math and functional

programming have a strong relationship. You learned that category theory is
the theory of composition, which is one of the main concepts of functions. In
Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you also learned the concept of data types by studying
examples like Optional<T> , List<T> , Either<A, B> and others. In this
chapter, you’ll learn about the strong relationship between a data type and
math. In particular, you’ll learn:

What algebra is and how it translates to the class construct and the
Either<E, T> data type in Kotlin.

How and when algebraic data types are useful, including a practical
example.

After addition and multiplication, you’ll see what the implications of

exponents are.

How to mathematically prove the currying operation.

What a simple List<T> has in common with algebra.

Understanding algebraic data types and their use will help you master
functional programming, as they’re especially useful for encoding business
logic in applications.

Time to do some coding magic with Kotlin and some interesting exercises!

Note: This is a very theoretical chapter that gives you some mathematical
proofs of the concepts you’ve met so far in the book. Feel free to skip it or
read it later if you want.

What is algebra?
Algebra is a category of arithmetic that lets you combine numbers with letters
representing numbers by using specific rules. Here’s an example of a simple
algebraic expression:

a * X ^ 2 - b * X + c

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In this example, you have:

Numbers, like the 2 .

Letters, like a , b and c .

Operations, like multiplication * , addition + and exponentiation ^ .

Algebra is the set of rules that allow you to combine all those different symbols.
But what does this have to do with Kotlin and functional programming?

Algebra and functional programming have a lot in common. Because of this,

programmers can use algebra to understand exactly how functional
programming constructs work, starting with product types.

Data types and multiplication

The Kotlin APIs define many classes, including Pair<A, B> , which has the
following simple code:

public data class Pair<out A, out B>(

public val first: A,
public val second: B
) : Serializable {
// ...
}

This class consists of a simple pair of values, the first of type A and the second
of type B .

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you saw that a type is a way to

represent all the possible values a variable of that type can assume. For
instance, a Boolean type can contain a value of true or false .

What about the Pair<A, B> type? How many values are available for a variable
of type Pair<A, B> ? To understand this, consider the type you’re defining by
copying the following code into Struct.kt, which you’ll find in this chapter’s
material:

typealias BoolPair = Pair<Boolean, Boolean>

To count all the possible values for a variable of type BoolPair , simply add the
following code:

val bool1 = true to true

val bool2 = true to false
val bool3 = false to true
val bool4 = false to false

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From a pair of Boolean variables, which you can consider a value of 2 , you
get 4 values in total. But do you get those four values by adding 2 + 2 or
multiplying 2 * 2 ?

Answer this question by adding the following definition to the same file:

enum class Triage {

RED, YELLOW, GREEN
}

This defines the Triage type, which is an enum with three different values:
RED , YELLOW and GREEN . Next, add the following code:

typealias BoolTriage = Pair<Boolean, Triage>

This defines a Pair consisting of a Boolean and a Triage . Now, repeat the
same question: How many values does this type have?

To find out, simply use the following code:

val triple1 = true to Triage.RED

val triple2 = true to Triage.YELLOW
val triple3 = true to Triage.GREEN
val triple4 = false to Triage.RED
val triple5 = false to Triage.YELLOW
val triple6 = false to Triage.GREEN

Which proves the possible values are:

Boolean * Triage = 2 * 3 = 6

This illustrates that a Pair<A, B> has as many values as the product of
multiplying A ’s values by B ’s values. This is called the Cartesian product of A
and B, which you can represent as A × B. This concept becomes much easier if
you use the analogy of a type with a set of values you learned in Chapter 2,
“Function Fundamentals”. If A represents all the values of type A and B all the
values of type B , the set A × B represents the product of the types A and B . A
× B is the set of all pairs (a, b) where a is an element of A and b an element
of B.

Now, look at what happens when incorporating the Unit type into the
multiplication.

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Exercise 10.1: What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias Triplet = Triple<UByte, Boolean, Unit>

Note: The cardinality of a set is the number of elements that set can
represent. For example, the cardinality of a Boolean would be 2, and the
cardinality of the Triage class above is 3.

Product with the unit type

You already know the Unit type has a single instance with the same name,
Unit . In Struct.kt, add the following definition:

typealias UnitTriage = Pair<Unit, Triage>

Now, note that the number of possible values is the value you get by adding the
following code to the same file:

val unit11 = Unit to Triage.RED

val unit21 = Unit to Triage.YELLOW
val unit31 = Unit to Triage.GREEN

You then have:

Unit * Triage = 1 * 3 = 3

This proves the Unit is equivalent to the value 1 when you multiply by it. It’s
also important to note that:

Unit * Triage = 1 * 3 = 3 = 3 * 1 = Triage * Unit

This leads you to:

val unit12 = Triage.RED to Unit

val unit22 = Triage.YELLOW to Unit
val unit32 = Triage.GREEN to Unit

Which you can think of as values of type:

typealias TriageUnit = Pair<Triage, Unit>

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In the case of Unit and multiplication, consider the following declaration:

Unit * Triage = 1 * 3 = 3 * 1 = Triage * Unit

It looks like TriageUnit and UnitTriage are the same. They aren’t, but, in
terms of functions, they’re not so different. You can implement a function that
maps every element of TriageUnit to one and only one element of UnitTriage
and vice versa. This function is then isomorphic. This means a function of type
Fun<A, UnitTriage> isn’t so different from Fun<A, TriageUnit> . This is
because you can think of the latter as the composition of the former with an
isomorphic function.

Note: Isomorphism was introduced in Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”.

You’ll continue learning more in Chapter 11: “Functors”, and Chapter 12:
“Monoids & Semigroups”.

For a more practical example, consider a function like the following:

fun isEven(a: Int): Boolean = a % 2 == 0

This function has type Fun<Int, Boolean> and returns true if the Int value
in input is even. Consider, now, the following function:

fun booleanToInt(even: Boolean): Int = if (even) 1 else 0

This is an isomorphic function of type Fun<Boolean, Int> that maps true to

1 and false to 0 . You also could’ve mapped true to 0 and false to 1 .
The important part is the meaning of the following function:

val isEvenInt = ::isEven compose ::booleanToInt

In this case, you just use different values to represent the same information
about the Int passed as input. isEvenInt has type Fun<Int, Int> instead of
the type Fun<Int, Boolean> of isEven . The Int value’s information you get
from isEvenInt is actually the same as the Boolean you get from isEven .
From a mathematical point of view, you can think of them as the same thing and
say that TriageUnit and UnitTriage are isomorphic types. From a category
theory point of view, you can say that isomorphic types have the same
structures.

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Exercise 10.2: What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias Unique = Pair<Unit, Unit>

Is this isomorphic with Unit ?

Multiplying the Nothing type

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned about the Nothing type.
It’s helpful to know what Nothing means in terms of algebraic data types. In
Struct.kt, add the following definition:

typealias NothingTriage = Pair<Nothing, Triage>

When you try to add the following code, you get an error. This is because you
can’t have a value of type Nothing , so you can’t create an instance of the
NothingTriage type.

val nothing1 : NothingTriage = Pair(???, Triage.RED)

This means the type Nothing corresponds to the value 0 for multiplication
purposes. In this case, you can say that:

Nothing * Triage = 0 * 3 = 0 = 3 * 0 = Triage * Nothing

Using the set analogy, Nothing represents the empty set. You might wonder if
an empty Set<A> is different from an empty Set<B> . They’re definitely
isomorphic. You can then say that NothingTriage and Nothing are
isomorphic types, as it would be the type you define like:

typealias TriageNothing = Pair<Triage, Nothing>

Multiplying classes
In the previous examples, you used Pair<A, B> , but what happens if you
define a class like so:

data class Struct(

val enabled: Boolean,
val triage: Triage,
val value: Byte
)

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Based on what you’ve already learned, you can say that:

Struct = Boolean * Triage * Byte = 2 * 3 * 256 = 1536

The number of possible values is the product of multiplying all the values of the
aggregated types. In this example, Byte has 256 values, so the total number of
values is 1,536.

But what happens when you do something like this instead:

data class AnotherStruct(

val enabled: Boolean,
val triage: Triage,
val name: String
)

String has many possible values, so you can’t determine an exact result — but
having an exact result isn’t important. As you’ll see later, the important thing is
to understand that you can represent the relationship between types as a
multiplication operation.

Data types and addition

The next question is about addition, which is another fundamental algebraic
operation. Open Either.kt and copy the following code, which you might
remember from Chapter 9, “Data Types”:

sealed class Either<out A, out B>

data class Left<A>(val left: A) : Either<A, Nothing>()
data class Right<B>(val right: B) : Either<Nothing, B>()

This is the Either<E, A> data type, representing a value of type A or a value of
type B . For your next step, you’ll repeat the same exercise. But this time, you’ll
try to understand how many values the Either<A, B> type has in relation to
the number of values of A and B .

Start by adding the following definition to Either.kt:

typealias EitherBooleanOrBoolean = Either<Boolean, Boolean>

Then, add the following code:

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val either1 = Left(true)

val either2 = Left(false)
val either3 = Right(true)
val either4 = Right(false)

This is the list of all possible values of the EitherBooleanOrBoolean type, which
you can think of as:

Boolean + Boolean = 2 + 2 = 4

This, perhaps, isn’t the best example because, as you saw earlier, 4 is 2 + 2
but also 2 * 2 . However, you’ve already learned how to solve this problem.

In this case, just add the following definition to Either.kt:

typealias EitherBooleanOrTriage = Either<Boolean, Triage>

Now, add the following values:

val eitherTriage1: Either<Boolean, Triage> = Left(true)

val eitherTriage2: Either<Boolean, Triage> = Left(false)
val eitherTriage3: Either<Boolean, Triage> = Right(Triage.RED)
val eitherTriage4: Either<Boolean, Triage> = Right(Triage.YELLOW)
val eitherTriage5: Either<Boolean, Triage> = Right(Triage.GREEN)

This proves that:

Boolean + Triage = 2 + 3 = 5

The Boolean type has 2 values and the Triage type has 3 values, so the
EitherBooleanOrTriage type has 2 + 3 = 5 values in total.

Exercise 10.3: What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias MultiEither = Either<UByte, Either<Boolean,

Triage>>

Is MultiEither isomorphic with MultiEither2 , which you define in the

following way?

typealias MultiEither2 = Either<Either<UByte, Boolean>,

Triage>

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Addition with Unit and Nothing types

Now it’s easy to see the role of the Unit and Nothing types in the case of
Either<A, B> . You already know how to understand this. Enter the following
code in Either.kt:

typealias EitherBooleanOrNothing = Either<Boolean, Nothing>

val boolNothing1: Either<Boolean, Nothing> = Left(true)

val boolNothing2: Either<Boolean, Nothing> = Left(false)

Now, it’s simple to understand that:

Boolean + Nothing = 2 + 0 = 2

The Nothing type, as you saw earlier, translates to 0.

And now for the Unit case, enter:

typealias EitherBooleanOrUnit = Either<Boolean, Unit>

val boolUnit1: Either<Boolean, Unit> = Left(true)

val boolUnit2: Either<Boolean, Unit> = Left(false)
val boolUnit3: Either<Boolean, Unit> = Right(Unit)

Which translates to:

Boolean + Unit = 2 + 1 = 3

Like when you multiplied it earlier, the Unit type counts as 1.

Putting algebra to work

After some simple calculations, you now understand that a class can represent
values that are, in number, the product of multiplying the possible values of the
aggregated types. You also learned that Either<A, B> has as many values as
the sum of the values of types A and B .

But how is this knowledge useful?

As a simple example, open TypeSafeCallback.kt, and enter the following

definition:

typealias Callback<Data, Result, Error> =

(Data, Result?, Error?) -> Unit

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This is the definition of a Callback<Data, Result, Error> type. It could, for

example, represent the operation you invoke to notify something of the result of
an asynchronous task.

It’s important to note that you define the Result and Error types as optional.

With this type, you want to consider that:

You always receive some data back from the asynchronous function.

If the result is successful, you receive the content in a Result object, which
is null otherwise.
If there are any errors, you receive a value of type Error , which is also
null otherwise.

To simulate a typical use case of the previous type, enter the following code into
TypeSafeCallback.kt:

// 1
class Response
class Info
class ErrorInfo

// 2
fun runAsync(callback: Callback<Response, Info, ErrorInfo>) {
// TODO
}

In this code, you:

1. Define some types to use as placeholders. You don’t really care about what’s
inside those classes here.

2. Create runAsync with a parameter of Callback<Data, Result, Error> .

An example of when to implement runAsync is when you’re performing an

asynchronous operation, and you invoke the callback function then pass the
corresponding parameter. For instance, in the case of success, runAsync might
result in the following, where you return some Response and the Info into it:

fun runAsync(callback: Callback<Response, Info, ErrorInfo>) {

// In case of success
callback(Response(), Info(), null)
}

If there’s an error, you could use the following code to return the Response

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along with ErrorInfo , which encapsulates information about the problem.

fun runAsync(callback: Callback<Response, Info, ErrorInfo>) {

// In case of error
callback(Response(), null, ErrorInfo())
}

But there’s a problem with this: The type you define using the Callback<Data,
Result, Error> typealias isn’t type-safe. It describes values that make no
sense in runAsync ‘s case. That type doesn’t prevent you from having code like
the following:

fun runAsync(callback: Callback<Response, Info, ErrorInfo>) {

// 1
callback(Response(), null, null)
// 2
callback(Response(), Info(), ErrorInfo())
}

Here, you might:

Have a Response without any Info or ErrorInfo .

Return both Info and ErrorInfo .

This is because the return type allows those values. You need a way to
implement type safety.

Using algebra for type safety

Algebraic data types can help with type safety. You need to translate the
semantic of Callback<Data, Result, Error> into an algebraic expression.
Then, apply some mathematic rules.

What you’re expecting from the callback is:

A Result AND an Info OR a Result AND an ErrorInfo

You can represent the previous sentence as:

Result * Info + Result * ErrorInfo

Now, apply the associative property and get:

Result * (Info + ErrorInfo)

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This is similar to what you saw earlier.

Next, translate this to the following and add it to TypeSafeCallback.kt:

typealias SafeCallback<Data, Result, Error> =

(Pair<Data, Either<Error, Result>>) -> Unit

The safe version of runAsync now looks like the following code, which you can
also add to TypeSafeCallback.kt:

fun runAsyncSafe(callback: SafeCallback<Response, Info, ErrorInfo>)

{
// 1
callback(Response() to Right(Info()))
// 2
callback(Response() to Left(ErrorInfo()))
}

The only values you can return using the safe callback are:

1. A Response and an Info object, in the case of success.

2. In the case of an error, the same Response but with an ErrorInfo .

More important than what you can do is what you can’t do. You can’t return both
Info and ErrorInfo , but you must return at least one of them.

Other algebraic properties

The analogy between types and algebra is fun because it reveals some
interesting facts. For instance, you know that:

A * 1 = A = 1 * A

Which translates into:

A * Unit = A = Unit * A

This tells you that Pair<A, Unit> is the same as Pair<Unit, A> , which is the
same as A , as you saw earlier in this chapter about isomorphism.

Another way to say this is that adding a property of type Unit to an existing
type doesn’t add any useful information.

You also know that:

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A + 0 = A = 0 + A

Becomes:

A + Nothing = A = Nothing + A

This represents a type you can write as:

typealias NothingType<A> = Either<Nothing, A>

Finally, write:

A * 0 = 0 = 0 * A

Which becomes:

A * Nothing = 0 = Nothing * A

You can write this as:

typealias NothingPair<A> = Pair<A, Nothing>

You can’t create a Pair using a value of type A and Nothing , so this is
basically the Nothing type.

Algebra with the Optional type

Another curious thing is that:

A + 1 = A + Unit = Either<A, Unit>

1 + A = Unit + A = Either<Unit, A>

This means the Either<A, Unit> type has all the possible values of A plus a
single value that is Unit . This is something you could represent like this:

sealed class Opt<out A>

object None : Opt<Unit>()
class Some<A>(value: A) : Opt<A>()

Do you recognize it? This is basically the Optional<T> type you learned about
in Chapter 9, “Data Types”. You have a value of type A , or you have another

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single and unique value, which is None here, but could also be Unit .

Fun with exponents

So far, you’ve seen what multiplication and addition mean in the context of
types. Next, you’ll see what you can express using exponents.

Start by writing the following expression:

// 1
A ^ 2 = A * A = Pair<A, A>
// 2
A ^ 3 = A * A * A = Pair<A, Pair<A, A>> = Pair<Pair<A, A>, A>
// ...

Starting from a given type A , you can see that:

1. You can represent the value A ^ 2 as A * A, which is equivalent to Pair<A,

A> .

2. For the same reason, you can think of A ^ 3 as A * A * A, which is equivalent

to Pair<A, Pair<A, A>> or Pair<Pair<A, A>, A> .

The same is true for each value of the exponent.

But what about the meaning of the expression A ^ B, where A and B are
types? How many possible values can you represent with a type that
corresponds with the expression, like Boolean ^ Triage ?

This is less intuitive and needs some more work.

If the analogy between types and algebra is true, the number of values for the
type Boolean ^ Triage should be 8 because:

Boolean ^ Triage = 2 ^ 3 = 8

But what does the number 8 represent? It represents how you can take the
number of values of Boolean to the power of the number of values of Triage .
This can happen in multiple ways — which are the number of ways to associate a
Boolean value with a value of the Triage type.

This perfectly describes the (Triage) -> Boolean function type. Prove this by
adding the following code to Exponents.kt:

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fun func0(triage: Triage): Boolean = when
Chapter 10: Algebraic Data Types
(triage) {
Triage.RED -> false
Triage.YELLOW -> false
Triage.GREEN -> false
}

fun func1(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> false
Triage.YELLOW -> false
Triage.GREEN -> true
}

fun func2(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> false
Triage.YELLOW -> true
Triage.GREEN -> false
}

fun func3(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> false
Triage.YELLOW -> true
Triage.GREEN -> true
}

fun func4(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> true
Triage.YELLOW -> false
Triage.GREEN -> false
}

fun func5(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> true
Triage.YELLOW -> false
Triage.GREEN -> true
}

fun func6(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> true
Triage.YELLOW -> true
Triage.GREEN -> false
}

fun func7(triage: Triage): Boolean = when (triage) {

Triage.RED -> true
Triage.YELLOW -> true
Triage.GREEN -> true
}

There are exactly 8 different ways of mapping a Triage value into a Boolean
value. Think of A ^ B as equivalent to a function from B to A . You can then
assert that:

A ^ B = (B) -> A

The consequences of this are surprising.

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Proving currying
In Chapter 8, “Composition”, you learned about the curry function. It basically
allows you to define the equivalence between a function of type (A, B) -> C
with a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C . But where does curry come from?
Is it something that always works, or is it a fluke? It’s time to prove it.
In the previous section, you learned that exponential A ^ B can be translated
in a function from B to A of type (B) -> A or Fun<B, A> . One of the most
important properties of exponents is the following:

(A ^ B) ^ C = A ^ (B * C)

The equality, =, is symmetric, so you can also write:

A ^ (B * C) = (A ^ B) ^ C

Now, recall what you’ve already learned about multiplication and

exponentiation, and translate that to:

(Pair<B, C>) -> A = (C) -> (B) -> A

Using some Kotlin notation, you can write this as:

(B, C) -> A = (C) -> (B) -> A

Sorting the types’ variables in an easier way, you can read that equation by
saying that a function of two input parameters, A and B with output C —
(A, B) -> C — is equivalent to a function with an input parameter of A and
an output parameter of function type (B) -> C . This is exactly what you’d call
currying. Here’s what you’ll find in Curry.kt in the material for this chapter:

fun <A, B, C> Fun2<A, B, C>.curry(): (A) -> (B) -> C = { a: A ->
{ b: B ->
this(a, b)
}
}

This proves the equivalence between the two function types.

Nothing and exponents

As you may know, in math:

A ^ 0 = 1

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Using the type analogy, now write:

A ^ Nothing = Unit

Which means:

(Nothing) -> A = Unit

In this case, the tricky thing is that = means isomorphism. So how can you read
the previous definition? In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you saw a
function of type Fun<Nothing, A> , which you called the “absurd function”
because you can’t invoke it. To invoke that function, you need a value of type
Nothing , which doesn’t exist. Because you can never invoke that function, all
the functions of that type are the same. They all have the same meaning, and
they all produce — or better, never produce — the same result.

Another way to say that all those functions are the same is: If you take one of
those, all the others are equivalent. You can represent all of them with just one,
and a way to represent a singleton is with Unit .

Powers and 1
Keep having fun with the following equivalence:

1 ^ A = 1

Whatever the exponent is for 1 , you always get 1 . Using equivalence with
types, you can say that:

(A) -> Unit = Unit

This means there’s only one function from a type A to Unit . It’s a way to
reinforce the definition of a terminal object that states there’s a unique
morphism from any object to it.

Now, consider this:

A ^ 1 = A

Which translates to:

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(Unit) -> A = A

This is another way to define the unit function you also learned about in
Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”.

Exponentials and addition

Another important property for exponents is:

A ^ (B + C) = A ^ B * A ^ C

Which translates to:

(Either<B, C>) -> A = Pair<(B) -> A, (C) -> A>

This basically means that a function accepting a value of type B or C to

produce a value of type A is isomorphic with a couple of functions — the first
from B to A and the second from C to A .

Using algebra with the List type

As a last bit of fun with algebra and types, enter the following definition into
List.kt:

sealed class NaturalNumber

// 1
object Zero : NaturalNumber()
// 2
data class Successor(val prev: NaturalNumber) : NaturalNumber()

This is a simple sealed class, which represents all natural numbers as:

1. The Zero value.

2. A set of all the possible Successors .

As an example, add the following to the same file:

// 1
val ZERO = Zero
// 2
val ONE = Successor(Zero)
// 3
val TWO = Successor(Successor(Zero)) // Successor(ONE)
// 4
val THREE = Successor(Successor(Successor(Zero))) // Successor(TWO)
// 5
// ...
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Here, you define:

1. The first value as ZERO .

2. ONE as the successor of ZERO .

3. TWO as the successor of ONE .
4. THREE as the successor of TWO .

5. And so on…

What’s more interesting is comparing the previous definition with the one of
Either<A, B> :

NaturalNumber = 1 + NaturalNumber

This is because you translate Either into an addition operation.

But the previous addition becomes:

NaturalNumber = 1 + NaturalNumber
NaturalNumber = 1 + (1 + NaturalNumber)
NaturalNumber = 1 + (1 + (1 + NaturalNumber))
NaturalNumber = 1 + (1 + (1 + (1 + NaturalNumber)))
...

This suggests that the set of NaturalNumber can be seen as a sequence of ones,
one for each natural number. Now, consider the List<A> data type. Using the
same reasoning, think of it as something you can define by entering the
following code into List.kt:

sealed interface FList<out A>

object Nil : FList<Nothing>
data class FCons<A>(
val head: A,
val tail: FList<A> = Nil
) : FList<A>

Does it ring a bell? You used this in Chapter 7, “Functional Data Structures”.
This means that a FList<A> can be empty, or you can think of it as a head and
tail , which may or may not be empty. You can then create a list of five values
in the following way and add it to List.kt:

val countList =
FCons(1, FCons(2, FCons(3, FCons(4, FCons(5, Nil)))))

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An immutable characteristic of math is that it always makes all the pieces work
together.

Functional lists and algebra

Now, what if you want to calculate the sum of the elements in FList<Int> ? You
do it by implementing a recursive function, like this:

fun FList<Int>.sum(): Int = when (this) {

is Nil -> 0
is FCons<Int> -> head + tail.sum()
}

Now, test it by copying and running the following code in List.kt:

fun main() {
println(countList.sum())
}

And you get:

15

So far, so good. But from an algebraic point of view, you write the previous
FList<A> type like this:

FList<A> = 1 + A * FList<A>

This is because it can be the Nil (and so the 1) or a Pair of an object of type
A and another FList<A> .

Now, repeat what you did in the case of the NaturalNumber and get:

FList<A> = 1 + A * FList<A>
= 1 + A * (1 + A * FList<A>) = 1 + A + A ^ 2 + A *
FList<A>
= 1 + A + A ^ 2 + A ^ 3 + A ^ 4 * FList<A>
...

This allows you to see FList<A> as a possible combination of all the possible
FList<A> s of length 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on.

The + here has the meaning of a logical OR, so an FList<A> is an empty FList

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OR a single element of type A OR a pair of elements of type A OR a triplet of
elements of type A and so on.

Write this as:

FList<A> = 1 + A * FList<A> =>

FList<A> - A * FList<A> = 1 =>

FList<A> * (1 - A) = 1 =>

1
FList<A> = -------
(1 - A)

This is the geometric series, which is equivalent to:

1
FList<A> = ------- = 1 + A + A^2 + A^3 + A^4 + .... + A^N + ...
(1 - A)

It’s curious how a complex data type like List<A> has an algebraic
relationship.

Key points
Algebra is a category of arithmetic that lets you combine numbers with
letters representing numbers by using specific rules.

You can think of a type as the Cartesian product of the types of its
properties. For instance, Pair<A, B> is the Cartesian product of A and B .
A Cartesian product of a type A and a type B is a new type, represented as
A × B . Its values are all the pairs (a, b) that you can create using a value
a from A and a value b from B .

The term isomorphic means “having the same form or structure”. Two
types, A and B , are isomorphic if a function of type Fun<A, B> maps each
value of A to one and only one value in B and vice versa.
Two isomorphic types are equivalent in the sense that you can use one or the
other without adding or removing any type of information.

Exponents like A ^ B are equivalent to the function type Fun<B, A> .

Exponents’ properties allow you to have evidence of some important
functional programming concepts. For instance, the fact that (A ^ B) ^ C =
A ^ (B * C) proves currying.

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Where to go from here?

Wow! In this chapter, you had a lot of fun using math to prove some important
functional programming tools like currying. As mentioned in the chapter’s
introduction, these concepts give you some helpful information for thinking
more functionally. In the next chapter, you’ll start learning all about the concept
of functors and the map function.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

11 Functors
Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you met the map function for the first time. You
learned that it’s one of the most important functions many data types provide
and that it’s related to the concept of a functor. But what is a functor, and why is
map so important? In this chapter, you’ll learn:

What a functor is and how it’s related to category theory.

How to apply the concept of a functor to the category of types and functions.

What functor laws are and how to use equational reasoning to verify them.

How to use the FList<T> and List<T> functors.

What a bifunctor is in relation to category theory.

How to implement bimap for algebraic data types.

This is a very theoretical chapter without exercises or challenges. However, it’s

helpful for getting you into a more functional mindset.

What is a functor?
The definition of functor is quite simple. A functor is basically a way to map one
category in another while preserving the structure. But what does structure of a
category mean? The first step to understanding is a quick revision of the concept
of category.

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned that a category is a bunch

of objects and some arrows between them, which are called morphisms. A
category has three fundamental properties:

Composition

Associativity

Identity

In Figure 11.1, you see an example of a category with two objects and one
morphism between them in addition to the identity morphisms that, by
definition, must be present for all objects.

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ia

ib

Figure 11.1: Category structure

Note: Remember that in a category, every object must have a morphism,

called identity. You represent this as an arrow from the object back to itself.
This is always true, even though, for simplicity, you won’t see them in all the
following pictures.

Categories tend to have structures because objects and morphisms give them a
sort of pattern. For instance, you might have another category, like in Figure
11.2, that also has two objects and a morphism between them. Although they’re
two distinct categories, you can recognize that they have the same structure or
recall the same pattern.

ia

a c

d
ic
b

id

ib

Figure 11.2: Category patterns

This offers the chance to map a category into another one, keeping the same
structure, which recalls the same pattern. In the previous example, the pattern
has two objects and one morphism between them.

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A functor, then, is something more than just mapping between two categories. It
must also preserve the structure. This means a functor has to map objects into
objects and morphisms into morphisms, following some rules.

Consider, then, two categories, C and D, as in Figure 11.3:

a a' = Fa

b b' = Fb

C D
Figure 11.3: Mapping objects

There you have:

A category C with two objects, a and b.

A category D with two objects, a’ and b’.

A functor F mapping object a to a’ and object b to b’.

As you see in the image, you can represent a’ as Fa and b’ as Fb.

Now, category C might have some structure you can represent with a morphism
f from a to b. The structure depends on the category, but in this example, you
can think of f as a single morphism from a to b. If this is the case, a functor also
has to map f into another morphism in the category D. This is where the
concept of preserving the structure becomes fundamental. If category C has a
morphism f from a to b, a functor must map it to another morphism, which you
represent as Ff, between a’ and b’.

You can also say that the functor must map the morphism f to a morphism Ff
from Fa to Fb.

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a a' = Fa

f Ff

b b' = Fb

C D
Figure 11.4: Mapping morphisms

Note: It’s important to say that you might map f into another morphism
between two objects different from a’ and b’. That’s perfectly legal, but you
wouldn’t define a functor in that case.

Of course, you might have many different morphisms between a and b. In

category theory, the set of all the morphisms between two objects has a name:
the hom-set.
With C(a, b), you can represent the hom-set of all the morphisms between a and
b in the category C. At the same time, D(Fa, Fb) can represent the hom-set of all
the morphisms between Fa and Fb. A functor, then, is a way to map each
morphism in C(a, b) to a morphism in D(Fa, Fb). Because the hom-sets are sets,
and you’re mapping elements of a set into elements of another set, a functor is a
function.
A functor is an exceptional function, though, because mapping all the
morphisms of the hom-set C(a, b) to morphisms in the hom-set D(Fa, Fb) isn’t
enough. A functor must also preserve — guess what — composition! Consider,
then, Figure 11.5:

F
Fa
a

g°f
Ff F( g ° f )
f
Fb
b
g Fg
c Fc

C D
Figure 11.5: Functor composition
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This figure has several important things to note:

The category C has three different objects: a, b and c, with a morphism f

from a to b and a morphism g from b to c.

If C is a category, because of the composition property, another morphism

must exist from a to c: the composition of the morphisms f and g. You
represent it as g ◦ f and read it as “g after f”.

From the definition of a functor, you know that it maps a to a’ = Fa, b to b’ =

Fb and c to c’ = Fc in the category D.

The functor also maps the morphism f to Ff and the morphism g to Fg.

Because D is a category, there must be a morphism from Fa to Fc that’s the

composition of the morphisms Ff and Fg. You represent this as Fg ◦ Ff and
read it as “Fg after Ff”.

What makes F a functor is that F (g ◦ f) = Fg ◦ Ff. In other words, the functor of the
composition is the composition of a functor. This is the formal definition of the
preservation of structure concept.

It’s crucial to note that:

Not all mappings between objects and morphisms work like this. On the
contrary, most don’t.

What’s true for a morphism f from a to b must be true for the entire hom-set
of all the morphisms from a to b.
In the case of identity, it must be true that F ia = i Fa. This means that a
functor must map identity morphisms ia for every object a to the identity for
the object Fa, which you can represent as i Fa.

The points above are the rules a functor must follow, usually referred to as the
functor laws. In short, a functor must preserve:

Composition, which means that F (g ◦ f) = Fg ◦ Ff.

Identity, which means that F ia = i Fa.

This is true for all the categories. But you, as an engineer, are interested in one
particular category: the category of types and functions.

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Note: To better understand these concepts, take your time reviewing this
section as many times as you need. Try to imagine categories with different
structures and how the functor would change in each case.

Functors in programming
In the previous section, you learned what a functor is in terms of category
theory. But, as a programmer, you’re particularly interested in one category: the
one where objects are types and morphisms are functions. In this case, you’re
working with endo-functors. The “endo” prefix means “internal” and
emphasizes that the functor maps types in types and functions in functions.

Note: Even if the functors in programming are endo-functors, you usually

ignore the prefix and just call them functors.

Note: In this chapter, you’ll use different letters as type parameters.

Sometimes you’ll use T and other types A and B . The name you use isn’t
important, but in general, you’ll use T when referring to the generic data
type and A and B when dealing with functions of type Fun<A, B> .

In your context, then, a functor maps types to types. It’s crucial to note that this
must work for any type in the category. To represent a functor, you need a way
to declare the type as a parameter and replace that parameter with the specific
type you need. The good news is that you already know how to do this using
generic types and type parameters. If F is your functor, you’ll represent it as
F<A> where A is the type parameter. You often call F<A> a type constructor
because you create a type, F<A>, starting from the type A.

But a functor doesn’t map just objects — it also must map functions. How can it
do that? The best way to understand this is with an example. Open Optional.kt
in this chapter’s material, and look at the code you implemented in Chapter 9,
“Data Types”:

sealed class Optional<out T> {

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <T> lift(value: T): Optional<T> = Some(value)

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): Optional<T> = None
}
}
object None : Optional<Nothing>()
data class Some<T>(val value: T) : Optional<T>()
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The Optional<T> data type provides the context of some object that can be
present or not. To make things clearer, the Optional here is the F you’ve used
so far to represent a functor, and Optional<T> is its type constructor, F<T>.
When you replace the type parameter, you can have Optional<Int> ,
Optional<Boolean> , Optional<User> , etc. What you’ll define for
Optional<T> will be valid whatever T ’s specific type is.

Note: As you learned in Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you can use functions like
lift to create an Optional<T> from an object of type T or, in general, an
F<T> from a T .

Figure 11.4: Mapping morphisms

Now, look at Figure 11.4 and assign a specific meaning to every object and
morphism. In the source category, you have two types, A and B , and a
function f from A to B of type Fun<A, B> . You know how to map the type
A to Optional<A> and the type B to Optional<B> . To make Optional<T> a
function, you need a way to map the function f of type Fun<A, B> to a
function from Optional<A> to Optional<B> of type Fun<Optional<A>,
Optional<B>> . This is precisely the map function you implemented in Chapter
9, “Data Types”, like this:

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fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): Optional<B> =
when (this) {
is None -> Optional.empty()
is Some<A> -> Optional.lift(fn(value))
}

Note how the type of map is Fun<Fun<A, B> -> Fun<Optional<A>,

Optional<B>>> because it:

Receives as input a function of type Fun<A, B> .

Returns an output of a function of type Fun<Optional<A>, Optional<B>> .

Another way to represent the type of map is:

((A) -> B)) -> ((Optional<A>) -> Optional<B>)

The function map above has the right type, but how can you be sure the
Optional<T> with the previous map is actually a functor? You need to prove
the functor laws.

Functor laws
In the previous section, you proved that the map function you implemented in
Chapter 9, “Data Types”, maps functions of type Fun<A, B> into functions of
type Fun<Optional<A>, Optional<B>> . Previously, you learned how to create
an Optional<A> from A using a type constructor or a function like lift .
Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to prove that, with the map function,
Optional<T> is now a functor.

To prove that Optional<T> is a functor, you need to prove the functor laws,
and specifically, that it preserves composition and identity.

To prove that your Optional<T> with the map you implemented is a functor,
you need to prove that:

F ia = i Fa

F (g ◦ f) = Fg ◦ Ff

Proving these for the Optional<T> data type is a useful exercise. To do so, you
use a technique called equational reasoning. Equational reasoning works here
because Kotlin allows you to define pure functions as equalities. The left side is
equal to the right side, and you can use the substitution model — as you learned
in Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts” — to replace the invocation
of the function with the expression itself. Replacing the function invocation with
the expression it represents is a technique called inlining. Of course, equality is

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symmetric, so you can also replace an expression with the invocation to the
related function. In this case, you use a technique called refactoring.

Note: Not all programming languages provide tools to easily prove the
functor laws. Sometimes, other programming languages provide unit tests to
prove the same properties more empirically.

Preserving identity for Optional<T>

To prove that the Optional<T> data type and map function you implemented
above are a functor, you need to prove some laws. The first is about identity. You
basically need to prove the following equation:

F ia = i Fa

In other terms, given the identity function:

fun <A> id(a: A): A = a

You need to prove that by invoking map on an Optional<T> passing the id

function, you get the identity for Optional<T> . Suppose, then, you have an
Optional<T> you defined in this way, shown here again for convenience:

sealed class Optional<out T> {

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <T> lift(value: T): Optional<T> = Some(value)

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): Optional<T> = None
}
}

object None : Optional<Nothing>()

data class Some<T>(val value: T) : Optional<T>()

This definition says that an Optional<A> can be None or a Some<T> . You also
defined map like this:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): Optional<B> =

when (this) {
is None -> Optional.empty()
is Some<A> -> Optional.lift(fn(value))
}

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What you need to do is replace the function fn with an identity and see if you
get the identity for Optional<T> . That would then be a function that returns
exactly the same Optional<T> you pass as an input parameter.

If the Optional<T> is None , and the function fn is id , the map function

becomes:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(): Optional<A> = Optional.empty()

If the Optional<T> is Some<T> , and the function is id , you get:

fun <A, A> Optional<A>.map(): Optional<A> =

Optional.lift(id(value))

Note that because id is the identity function, you can replace the type B with
A . Given that id(value) = value , you get:

fun <A, A> Optional<A>.map(): Optional<A> = Optional.lift(value)

Or:

fun <A, A> Optional<A>.map(): Optional<A> = Some(value)

To summarize what you’ve just done, you’ll get:

None if the Optional<T> is None .

Some<T> if the Optional<T> is Some<T> .

This is the identity function for Optional<T> !

Preserving composition for Optional<T>

To prove that Optional<T> with the map function you implemented is a
functor, you also need to prove that it preserves composition, which means
that:

F (g ◦ f) = Fg ◦ Ff

In this case, you also have two possible cases. If your Optional<T> is None ,
the map function becomes:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(): Optional<B> = Optional.empty()

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This means that if you have None , whatever function you apply, you always get
None . This is true if you apply just f , g or the composition of the two. In the
case of None , the left and right members are then the same.

In case of Some<T> , the map function becomes:

fun <A, B> Some<A>.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): Some<B> = Some(fn(value))

This means that you basically lose the option for the case when the value isn’t
present. You remove the effect of the context, which consists in removing the
F from the equation, getting:

g ◦ f = g ◦ f

This is true by definition, so you can conclude that the Optional<T> and map
function you created defines a functor.

The FList<T> and List<T> functors

In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you implemented map for the FList<T> data type
and used the map implementation Kotlin provides for the List<T> type. In
this chapter, you won’t prove that FList<T> and List<T> are functors, but
you’ll see an interesting property of the fact that they are. This is a consequence
of the functor laws you previously proved for Optional<T> .

As you know, if you have two functions, f and g , and any functor F , the
following equivalence is true:

F ( g ◦ f ) = Fg ◦ Ff

In the case of FList<T> and List<T> , you can write this as:

val list = FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) // 1

val left = list.map(f).map(g) // 2
val right = list.map(g after f) // 3

In this code, you:

1. Create an FList<Int> , but it could also be a List<Int> .

2. Invoke map a first time, passing the function f as a parameter and then a
second time passing g as a parameter. This is the code version of the left

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side of the previous equation.
3. Invoke map , passing the composition of f and g as a parameter.

The functor laws say that the two sides of the equation are the same. The good
news is in terms of performance. If N is the length of the list, the left side has
complexity O(2N) while the right side has complexity O(N) . In terms of
complexity, a constant doesn’t matter: The composition g ◦ f takes
approximately the same time as invoking f first and then g . In this case, you
still have a single iteration, and the equivalent provides you the opportunity to
write more readable code.

Bifunctors
In the previous sections, you learned what a functor is in terms of category
theory, and you proved the functor laws for the Optional<T> data type. You
also saw that knowing FList<T> and List<T> are functors helps you
structure your code in an easier — and, probably more performant — way.
Optional<T> , FList<T> and List<T> all have a single type parameter. In
Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you also implemented Either<A, B> as an example of
a data type with multiple type parameters. So, what’s the relationship between
the concept of a functor and Either<A, B> ?

To understand this, start from the two categories in Figure 11.6:

C D

c
a

f g

d
b

Figure 11.6: Couple of categories

Here, you have the categories:

C, with the objects a and b and a morphism f between them.

D, with the objects c and d and a morphism g between them.

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So far, so good. Now, consider what’s in Figure 11.7:

CxD F E

( a, c ) m

( f, g ) F( f, g )

( b,d ) n

Figure 11.7: The product category

In this figure, you have:

The category C×D, which is the Cartesian product of the category C and D.
This means each object in the category C×D is a couple of objects, (c, d),
where c is an object of C, and d is an object of D.

The morphism f from a to b in C and the morphism g from c to d in D

becomes the morphism (f, g). Note how you go from the object (a, b) to (c, d)
using both the functions, (f, g).

Of course, C×D is a category, and you can create a functor F to another

category E in the same way you did previously.

The main difference is that now the type constructor contains two different type
parameters, not just one, which is why it’s called a bifunctor.

The relationship between bifunctors and algebraic data types you learned in
Chapter 10, “Algebraic Data Types”, is intriguing. As you know, the type
Pair<A, B> is an example of the product of types, while Either<A, B> is an
example of the sum. In both cases, you can define a function, bimap , like the
following one you already implemented in Either.kt in this chapter’s material:

fun <A, B, C, D> Either<A, B>.bimap(

fl: Fun<A, C>,
fr: Fun<B, D>
): Either<C, D> = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(fl(left))
is Right<B> -> Either.right(fr(right))
}

Depending on if Either<A, B> is a Left<A> or a Right<B> , you apply the

function fl or fr , respectively. You never apply both. In the case of Pair<A,
B> , you’d implement the same function in a similar way. Open Pair.kt, and write

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the following code:

fun <A, B, C, D> Pair<A, B>.bimap(

fl: Fun<A, C>,
fr: Fun<B, D>
): Pair<C, D> = fl(first) to fr(second)

As you see, you define:

bimap as an extension function of the Pair<A, B> type, receiving two

functions as input parameters.
fl as the first input parameter of type Fun<A, C> and fr as the second
input parameter of type Fun<B, D> .
Pair<C, D> as the return type for bimap .

It’s essential that you always invoke both fl and fr on the first and
second properties, respectively, getting the object of type Pair<C, D> in
return.

You won’t prove it in this book, but the good news is that you can define a
functor or bifunctor for any algebraic data type.

Typeclasses
In the last three chapters, you learned how to implement some of the most
important data types and saw how to make them work as functors. When you
say that List<T> is a functor, you know that you can use a map function
accepting another function as a parameter, and the functor laws will be valid. If
you have multiple type parameters, you can say the same things about
bifunctors and the bimap function.

It also means that many data types have some common behavior. You usually
refer to this common behavior with the concept of a typeclass. A functor is then
a typeclass. In the following chapters, you’ll learn about other typeclasses like
monoids, semigroups, monads and so on.

Key points
A functor is a way to map one category to another while preserving their
structures.
You define the structure of a category using objects and morphisms.

A functor maps objects to objects and morphisms to morphisms.

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A type constructor is the mechanism a language provides to define a new
data type using generics.

Preserving structure means to preserve identity and composition.

The functor laws are a formal definition of what it means to preserve
identity and composition.

You can define the category C×D as a Cartesian product of existing

categories C and D. C×D has as objects all the pairs (c, d) you can create using
all the c from C and d from D.

You define morphisms in C×D depending on the specific type constructor.

A functor mapping objects and morphisms from the category C×D is called a
bifunctor.

Bifunctors define the bimap function.

A typeclass is the concept you use to represent common behaviors across

different data types.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you learned more about functors, providing a
solid base to the code you implemented in Chapter 9, “Data Types”. At the end of
the chapter, you also met the concept of a typeclass. A functor is a typeclass. In
the next chapter, you’ll see a couple of very important typeclasses: monoids
and semigroups.

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12 Monoids & Semigroups

Written by Massimo Carli

In this chapter, you’ll learn everything you need to know about a couple of very
important typeclasses. You may be surprised that you’ve used these typeclasses
all the time without knowing it:

Monoids
Semigroups

You’ll understand their meaning in the context of category theory, and more
importantly, you’ll learn their implications in your favorite category: types and
functions. In particular, you’ll see:

A first, familiar definition of monoid.

A possible monoid typeclass definition in Kotlin.

What property-based testing is.

How to use property-based testing to verify the monoid laws.

How monoids are handy when used with Foldable data types.

The meaning of a monoid in category theory.

What a semigroup is and how it differs from a monoid.

As always, some exercises will help you to understand these important

concepts.

What is a monoid?
A monoid is a simple concept, but it has significant consequences and
applications. To define a monoid, you need:

A set of objects.

A binary operation.

The operation must:

Be associative.
Have a unit value.

Being associative means that, given the elements a, b and c and the operation op,

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the following property must always be true:

a op (b op c) = (a op b) op c

The unit for the operation op is a particular element of the set that, whatever the
element a is, makes the following equivalences always true:

a op unit = a
unit op a = a

Monoids are everywhere, and providing a familiar example is simple. A very

important monoid is:

The set of integer numbers.

Addition.

Addition is associative because:

a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c

The particular integer value that’s the unit for the addition is, of course, 0. This
is because:

a + 0 = a
0 + a = a

Addition is a good example but can also be misleading. For instance, addition is
commutative, which means that:

a + b = b + a

Instead, a monoid doesn’t need to be commutative.

Exercise 12.1: Can you find an example of a monoid whose operation isn’t
commutative? Remember, you can find the solutions for all exercises and
challenges in Appendix K.

Exercise 12.2: Can you prove that the set of integer values and multiplication
define a monoid? In this case, what would the unit element be?

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From the previous definition, you understand that you can have many different
types of monoids using the same set but a different operation or vice versa. But
then, how would you define the typeclass Monoid in code?

The Monoid<T> typeclass

If you use the set analogy for types, you can think of a monoid for a type T as:

A commutative combine operation of type (T, T) -> T .

A unit element of type T .

Note: It’s important to understand that you could do this in multiple ways.
The method you’ll implement here is just one possibility.

Open Monoid.kt in this chapter’s material, and add the following code:

interface Monoid<T> { // 1
val unit: T // 2
val combine: (T, T) -> T // 3
}

In this code, you define:

1. Monoid<T> as an interface with a generic type parameter T .

2. unit as the unit value of type T .

3. combine as a function of type (T, T) -> T .

The previous definition has a few significant things to note that have
consequences on some implementation details. You might have the following
questions in particular:

combine has two input parameters of type T and returns another value of
the same type T . You learned that composition is easier with functions with
a single parameter. How, then, can you improve the Monoid<T> definition?
Monoid<T> is an interface that a type might implement to provide unit and
combine implementations. But you also know that you might have two
monoids for the same set of values. For instance, multiplication and addition
are both monoids on Int . How could you then provide a different monoid
implementation for the same type T ?

At compile time, there’s no way to force the validity of the property about
associativity and unit. This depends on the combine implementation. What
can you do, then, to have confidence your implementation will work
properly?
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In Chapter 8, “Composition”, you implemented the curry function in the way

you find in Definitions.kt:

typealias Fun2<A, B, C> = (A, B) -> C

fun <A, B, C> Fun2<A, B, C>.curry(): (A) -> (B) -> C = { a: A ->
{ b: B ->
this(a, b)
}
}

curry allows you to represent a function of two input parameters of type (A,
B) -> C as a higher-order function of a single parameter that returns another
function of type (A) -> (B) -> C . This suggests that you can replace the
previous Monoid<T> definition with the following in the same Monoid.kt:

interface Monoid<T> {
val unit: T
val combine: (T) -> (T) -> T // HERE
}

As you can see, now combine has a single input parameter of type T and
returns a function of type (T) -> T . But you can do even better by replacing
the previous definition with the following:

public interface Monoid<T> {

val unit: T
val combine: T.(T) -> T // HERE
}

Creating a single Monoid<T> implementation is relatively easy. Before

implementing some, it’s important to emphasize that it’s not correct to say that
some type A is a monoid. A monoid needs a type, which is essentially a set of
values. It also needs an associative operation with unit. This means you can’t
just make your class A to implement Monoid<A> because you need something
more.
Previously, you used the Int type. Depending on if you’re using addition or
multiplication, you can define two different monoids. Open Monoid.kt and add
the following code:

object MonoidIntAdd : Monoid<Int> { // 1

override val unit: Int
get() = 0 // 2
override val combine: Int.(Int) -> Int // 3
get() = Int::plus // 4
}

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In this code, you define:

1. MonoidIntAdd as an object implementing the Monoid<Int> interface. It

represents a monoid for Int and addition. You use an object because you
don’t have to handle any states. unit is just a value, and combine is a pure
function.

2. 0 , which is the unit value for addition.

3. combine as a function of type Int.(Int) -> Int which, as you’ll see very
soon, might have some advantages in Kotlin. If it’s more familiar, you might
also use the previous definition of Monoid<T> with combine of type (T) ->
(T) -> T .

4. combine using the Int::plus definition, which is of type Int.(Int) ->

Int . This is actually the main reason for defining combine as a function of
type T.(T) -> T .

Exercise 12.3: How would you implement the monoid MonoidIntMult for
Int and multiplication? Then, check out the solution in Appendix K.

Exercise 12.4: How would you implement the monoid MonoidStringConcat

for String and String concatenation?

As you see, implementing a monoid is relatively simple, and you’ll implement

others very soon. But how can you be sure that your implementation is actually
a monoid?

Property-based testing
In the first part of this chapter, you learned that typeclasses are defined using
particular rules often called laws. You already met them in Chapter 11,
“Functors”. You also created some very simple Monoid<T> implementations
that you’re confident follow the monoid rules, but how can you be sure of that?
Answering this question is an ideal opportunity to introduce a technique called
property-based testing.

As you know, testing is one of the most challenging parts of the development
process of any piece of software. To understand why, just look at the code in
PropertyTest.kt:

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fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b

The question now is: How can you test this code? sum is a basic function that
adds two values you pass as input. The first approach is to implement some unit
tests. You can implement some tests like the following. Add this code to
PropertyTestTest.kt:

class PropertyTestTest {

@Test
fun `sum test using predefined values`() {
Truth.assertThat(sum(2, 3)).isEqualTo(5)
Truth.assertThat(sum(2, 5)).isEqualTo(7)
Truth.assertThat(sum(-2, 5)).isEqualTo(3)
}
}

Here, you’re testing that 2 + 3 = 5 , 2 + 5 = 7 and -2 + 5 = 3 .

Run the tests by clicking the icon in Figure 12.1, and you’ll get what’s in Figure
12.2, proving that all the tests pass.

Figure 12.1: Run your tests

Figure 12.2: All tests pass!

But you’re only testing some of the possible values! What about all the other
possible inputs? You could add more cases, but how many tests do you actually
need to implement to be sure your function is correct?
In this specific case, sum accepts two parameters of type Int . This means the
possible combinations in input are the number of elements in the Cartesian
product Int × Int , which has 4,294,967,295 × 4,294,967,295 elements! Of
course, you can’t implement all those tests, so you need a smarter solution.
What about generating some random values and checking whether sum works
correctly?
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In the same PropertyTestTest.kt, add the following code:

@Test
fun `sum test using random values`() {
val firstValue = Random.nextInt() // 1
val secondValue = Random.nextInt() // 2
val expectedValue = firstValue + secondValue // 3
Truth.assertThat(sum(firstValue, secondValue)) // 4
.isEqualTo(expectedValue)
}

In this code, you:

1. Use Random.nextInt to get a random Int for the first parameter you store
in firstValue .

2. Do the same for the second parameter, which you put in secondValue .

3. Calculate the expected value using + , which you store in expectedValue .

4. Check that the value you get from sum is what you expected.

Run the test as in Figure 12.3, and make it pass again.

Figure 12.3: Random input tests

If you run it once, you might’ve just been lucky. A possible option is to run the
test more times. Add the following code in PropertyTestTest.kt, and run it
again:

@Test
fun `sum test using random values 100 times`() {
100.times {
val firstValue = Random.nextInt()
val secondValue = Random.nextInt()
val expectedValue = firstValue + secondValue
Truth.assertThat(sum(firstValue, secondValue))
.isEqualTo(expectedValue) o
}
}
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In this case, everything also seems fine, like in Figure 12.4:

Figure 12.4: Multiple random tests pass

This seems fine, but it’s not quite so simple. Can you see why?

The answer is highlighted in the following code:

@Test
fun `sum test using random values`() {
val firstValue = Random.nextInt()
val secondValue = Random.nextInt()
val expectedValue = firstValue + secondValue // HERE
Truth.assertThat(sum(firstValue, secondValue))
.isEqualTo(expectedValue)
}

To test sum , you’re re-implementing the same feature! How can you test that
sum is correct if you compare its result with a value you get by doing exactly
the same thing? Of course, it passes — but they might both be wrong.

So the big problem now is: How would you test sum without:

Re-implementing the same operation in tests?

Using specific examples?

The answer is property-based testing.

An example of property-based testing

In the previous section, you saw that implementing good testing isn’t obvious,
even for a basic function like sum . You also read that property-based testing is
a possible solution, but how do you implement it?

The first step is to think about how sum is different from other operations. For
instance, you previously learned that addition is commutative, meaning that for
any a and b:

a + b = b + a

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You know that this isn’t true for all operations. Subtraction, for example, is not
commutative. You can then add the following test to PropertyTestTest.kt:

@Test
fun `test sum is commutative`() {
100.times {
val firstValue = Random.nextInt() // 1
val secondValue = Random.nextInt() // 1
val result1 = sum(firstValue, secondValue) // 2
val result2 = sum(secondValue, firstValue) // 3
Truth.assertThat(result1).isEqualTo(result2) // 4
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Get two random values for firstValue and secondValue .

2. Invoke sum using firstValue and secondValue as first and second

parameters.

3. Invoke sum with the same parameter values but in a different order.

4. Check that the results you got in the two cases are the same.

If you run this test, you’ll see it passes. This is an improvement over the
previous solutions, but unfortunately, it’s not enough. You can easily test this by
replacing the + with * in PropertyTest.kt:

fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a * b

The previous test still passes because, like addition, multiplication is also
commutative. You don’t just give up, then, wondering what the difference is
between addition and multiplication.

There are many, but a possible solution is that adding 1 twice to any value a is
the equivalent of adding 2 to the same a. This isn’t true with multiplication.
Multiplying by 1 twice isn’t equivalent to multiplying by 2 once. To spot the
multiplication you introduced earlier, add the following test to
PropertyTestTest.kt:

@Test
fun `test addition is not multiplication`() {
100.times {
val randomValue = Random.nextInt() // 1
val result1 = sum(sum(randomValue, 1), 1) // 2
val result2 = sum(randomValue, 2) // 3
Truth.assertThat(result1).isEqualTo(result2) // 4
}
}

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In this case, you:

1. Get a random Int value you put in randomValue .

2. Invoke sum , adding 1 to randomValue and then again to add 1 to the

previous result.

3. Use sum , adding 2 to randomValue .

4. Check if the values you got are the same.

Run this test using the bugged sum implementation, and you’ll get what’s in
Figure 12.5:

Figure 12.5: Spotting the multiplication bug

You can fix the problem in the sum implementation and restore this in
PropertyTest.kt:

fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b

Now, comment out all the tests, keeping just the following, which you
implemented as property-based tests:

class PropertyTestTest {
// ...
@Test
fun `test sum is symmetric`() {
100.times {
val firstValue = Random.nextInt()
val secondValue = Random.nextInt()
val result1 = sum(firstValue, secondValue)
val result2 = sum(secondValue, firstValue)
Truth.assertThat(result1).isEqualTo(result2)
}
}

@Test
fun `test addition is not multiplication`() {
100.times {
val randomValue = Random.nextInt()
val result1 = sum(sum(randomValue, 1), 1)
val result2 = sum(randomValue, 2)
Truth.assertThat(result1).isEqualTo(result2)
}
}
}
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Run them, and you’ll see them all passing, like in Figure 12.6:

Figure 12.6: Property-based tests passing.

Everything looks fine, but you still need to fix something. Just replace the sum
implementation with the following in PropertyTest.kt:

fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int = 0

Because sum always returns the same value, all the previous tests pass! Of
course, this isn’t good. The output must be a function of the input. You don’t
want to fail in the very first tests you wrote when you knew exactly what values
to pass as input, and you had to re-implement the same sum in the tests.

A possible solution to this is the use of a special value that allows you to
somehow predict the result without knowing all the input values. To understand
what this value is, add the following test to PropertyTestTest.kt:

@Test
fun `test using unit value for addition`() {
100.times {
val randomValue = Random.nextInt() // 1
val result1 = sum(randomValue, 0) // 2
val expected = randomValue // 3
Truth.assertThat(result1).isEqualTo(expected) // 4
}
}

In this test, you:

1. Store a random Int value in randomValue .

2. Invoke sum , passing randomValue as the first parameter and 0 as the

second.

3. Use the same randomValue as the expected result when adding 0 .

4. Check if the result is what you’re expecting.

When you run the previous test with the last bugged sum implementation,
you’ll see the test fails, like in Figure 12.7:

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Figure 12.7: Using unit to spot wrong sum implementation.

Resume the correct sum implementation in PropertyTest.kt like this:

fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b

All the tests now pass!

It’s crucial now to understand what you actually did. Instead of implementing
unit tests using specific input values, you focused on the main properties of
addition and proved that they’re valid regardless of the input values. This is the
idea behind the concept of property-based testing.

You might wonder if this idea can somehow be abstracted and generalized. The
answer is yes!

Generalizing property-based testing

In the previous section, you used the property-based technique to test, with
acceptable confidence, the implementation of a simple sum function.
Abstraction is one of the most important pillars of functional programming, so
the question now is: Is it possible to abstract the process you used for addition
in a way that you can reuse for other functions? Of course you can!

Note: Some frameworks, like Kotest, allow you to use property-based testing
in your code in a more robust and complete way. In this case, you’ll just
implement some of the main abstractions as an example of the technique. It’s
up to you to decide if you want to use Kotest, another framework or
implement your own.

As you learned above, property-based testing uses some randomly generated

values you can represent using the Generator<T> abstraction. In
PropertyTest.kt, add the following code:

fun interface Generator<T> { // 1

fun generate(n: Int): List<T> // 2
}

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Here, you define:

1. The Generator<T> abstraction as a generic functional interface.

Generator<T> is supposed to generate random values of type T .

2. generate as a function accepting an Int input parameter that defines the

number of random elements you need to generate. The result value is
List<T> , and it’s supposed to be a list of length n . This allows you to
handle any number of random values.

In the same file, add the following implementation for Int values:

object IntGenerator : Generator<Int> {

override fun generate(n: Int): List<Int> = List(n) {
Random.nextInt()
}
}

This is self-explanatory and simply returns a List<Int> containing n random

Int values.

Now, you need a way to represent properties like commutativity, associativity and
so on. A simple way to do this is adding the following definition in
PropertyTest.kt:

interface Property<T> { // 1
operator fun invoke( // 2
gen: Generator<T>, // 3
fn: (List<T>) -> T // 4
): Boolean // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Define Property<T> as a generic interface in the type parameter T .

2. Declare invoke as the operator to define in every Property<T>

implementation. This allows you to check the property directly using () .

3. Pass the Generator<T> as invoke ’s first parameter. Each Property<T> is

responsible for using the generator to get all the values it needs.

4. Need a function of the generated input values List<T> that returns another
value of type T . The return type could be different in case you’d need to test
more complex properties.

5. Require Boolean as the return type for invoke . This tells you whether the
property is verified. Again, you’re keeping things simple, but in Chapter 14,

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“Error Handling With Functional Programming”, you’ll see how to get more
information from a failing property verification using Either<A, B> or
Kotlin’s built-in Result<T> .

As a first example of using Property<T> , it’s useful to define the

implementation for the commutativity property. In PropertyTest.kt, add the
following code:

class CommutativeProperty<T> : Property<T> { // 1

override fun invoke(
gen: Generator<T>,
fn: (List<T>) -> T
): Boolean {
val values = gen.generate(2) // 2
val res1 = fn(listOf(values[0], values[1])) // 3
val res2 = fn(listOf(values[1], values[0])) // 4
return res1 == res2 // 5
}
}

This is some very interesting code, where you:

1. Create CommutativeProperty<T> as a Property<T> implementation. Note

how CommutativeProperty<T> is still generic in the type T .

2. Invoke generate on the Generator<T> you get as invoke ’s input

parameter to get 2 values you need to prove commutativity.

3. Invoke the function fn you get as invoke ’s input parameter, passing the
random values in the same order you got from Generator<T> .

4. Do the same, but using the random values you got from Generator<T> in a
different order.
5. Check if the two results are the same. This is required to prove the
commutative property.

Now, in a very similar way, you can implement Property<T> for associativity.
In PropertyTest.kt, add the following code:

class AssociativeProperty<T> : Property<T> {

override fun invoke(
gen: Generator<T>,
fn: (List<T>) -> T
): Boolean {
val values = gen.generate(3) // 1
val res1 = fn(
listOf(fn(listOf(values[0], values[1])), values[2])) // 2
val res2 = fn(
listOf(values[0], fn(listOf(values[1], values[2])))) // 3
return res1 == res2 // 4
}
}

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In this case, you:

1. Need 3 values of type T .

2. Invoke the function fn you get as invoke ‘s input parameter like op(op(a,
b), c) , assuming a , b and c are the 3 random values, and op is the
operation you’re testing.

3. Do the same, but like op(a, op(b, c)) .

4. Verify that the results in the two cases are the same.

Finally, you can implement Property<T> for the identity property by adding
the following code in PropertyTest.kt:

class IdentityProperty<T>(
private val unit: T // 1
) : Property<T> {
override fun invoke(
gen: Generator<T>,
fn: (List<T>) -> T
): Boolean {
val randomValue = gen.generate(1)[0] // 2
val res1 = fn(listOf(randomValue unit)) // 3
val res2 = fn(listOf(unit, randomValue)) // 4
return res1 == randomValue && res2 == randomValue // 5
}
}

In this case, the implementation is slightly different. Here, you:

1. Need the unit element, which depends on the specific type T and
operation.

2. Generate a single randomValue of type T .

3. Invoke fn in the form op(randomValue, unit) .

4. Do the same by invoking fn in the form op(unit, randomValue) .

5. Verify that unit is actually the unit for the given operation you invoke
through fn .
It’s finally time to use these properties in a property-based test. But first, add the
following utility function to PropertyTest.kt:

infix fun <T> Property<T>.and(

rightProp: Property<T>
): Property<T> = object : Property<T> { // 1
override fun invoke( // 2
gen: Generator<T>,
fn: (List<T>) -> T
): Boolean =
this@and(gen, fn) && rightProp(gen, fn) // 3
}

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This utility function simplifies the verification of multiple properties, putting

them all in and . Here, you:

1. Define and as an infix extension function of Property<T> , accepting

another Property<T> in input. The return type is still a Property<T> ,
which is the logical AND with the receiver.
2. Create the Property<T> implementation to return using the receiver and
the Property<T> you get as input.

3. Simply invoke the receiver Property<T> and the rightProp you get as an
input parameter. This means that the returning Property<T> will evaluate
to true if and only if both the receiver property and the one you pass as
rightProp evaluate to true .

Now, open PropertyTestTest.kt, and add the following test:

@Test
fun `Property-based test for sum`() {
100.times {
val additionProp =
CommutativeProperty<Int>() and // 1
AssociativeProperty() and
IdentityProperty(0)
val evaluation = additionProp(IntGenerator) { // 2
sum(it[0], it[1])
}
Truth.assertThat(evaluation).isTrue() // 3
}
}

In this test, you:

1. Create instances of CommutativeProperty<Int> ,

AssociativeProperty<Int> and IdentityProperty . Using the and utility
function, you compose them into a single Property<Int> implementation
you store in additionProp .
2. Evaluate additionProp , passing a reference to the IntGenerator and a
lambda containing the actual invocation of sum , passing the values you get
from the Generator<Int> in a List<Int> . You store the result in
evaluation .

3. Confirm that all the properties are verified by testing the value of
evaluation , which must be true.

Run the previous test, and you’ll see that all the tests pass! You can also verify

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that the test fails if you change the sum implementation like you did above.

Exercise 12.5: In the previous section, you proved that addition is different
from multiplication using op(op(a), 1) and op(a, 2) . The two expressions
are equal for any Int a if op is addition, but the same isn’t true if op is
multiplication. Can you implement a Property<Int> implementation for this
rule and use it to create a new test?

You can find the solution in Appendix K and the challenge project for this
chapter.

A crucial aspect of what you just did is that the properties you’ve defined for
sum aren’t just properties you use for testing. They’re actually the specification
for sum or addition in general. Every operation that satisfies
CommutativeProperty , AssociativeProperty and IdentityProperty is
addition.

Property-based testing and monoids

Property-based testing comprises much more than what you’ve learned here.
Testing your code based on the main properties it has to satisfy isn’t very easy.
Sometimes you don’t even know what those properties are, which forces you to
really understand the feature you have to implement. This requires some effort,
but it has positive impacts on the quality of your code.

In this chapter, you’ve learned what property-based testing is. You also
implemented a very small framework with the goal of having a way to verify if
your monoid implementations work. Property-based testing is useful with
monoid laws but is also one of the main techniques for verifying any typeclass
law.

To prove this, you’ll now implement a Monoid<String> implementation for the

String type and the String concatenation operation. Then, you’ll prove it’s
actually a monoid.

Note: Spoiler alert! You should’ve already implemented a Monoid<String> for

the String type and String concatenation operation as an exercise. If you
haven’t, please review Exercise 12.4 before proceeding.

You know that a Monoid<T> consists of a type T , which represents a set of

values and a binary operation that’s associative and has a unit. A possible
implementation for String with String concatenation, then, is the following.

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Add this to Monoid.kt if not already present in your exercise solution:

object MonoidStringConcat : Monoid<String> {

override val unit: String
get() = ""
override val combine: String.(String) -> String
get() = String::plus
}

To implement a property-based test for this implementation, you need a

Generator<String> . A possible implementation is the following, which you can
add to PropertyTest.kt:

class StringGenerator(
private val minLength: Int = 0,
private val maxLength: Int = 10
) : Generator<String> {
val chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" +
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" +
"1234567890!±§!@£$%^&*()_+-="
override fun generate(n: Int): List<String> = List(n) {
val length = Random.nextInt(minLength, maxLength)
val currentString = StringBuilder()
(1..length).forEach {
currentString.append(
chars[Random.nextInt(0, chars.length)])
}
currentString.toString()
}
}

The next step is providing Property<T> implementation for:

Associativity

Identity
Hey, you already have them! In the test build type, create a new file named
StringMonoidTest.kt, like in Figure 12.8:

Figure 12.8: Create a StringMonoidTest file.

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Now, add the following code:

class StringMonoidTest {

@Test
fun `test string concat using generators`() {
100.times {
val stringConcatProp =
AssociativeProperty<String>() and // 1
IdentityProperty("") // 2
val evaluation = stringConcatProp(StringGenerator()) { // 3
MonoidStringConcat.combine(it[0], it[1]) // 4
}
Truth.assertThat(evaluation).isTrue() // 5
}
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Use an AssociativeProperty<String> instance.

2. Create an instance of IdentityProperty<String> using the empty String
as a unit.

3. Combine the two properties in stringConcatProp and invoke it, passing an

instance of StringGenerator .

4. Use MonoidStringConcat.combine as the operation to test.

5. Verify that evaluation always evaluates to true .

Run the test, and you’ll get what’s in Figure 12.9:

Figure 12.9: MonoidStringConcat is a monoid!

Great! You managed to implement a monoid and test its properties using
property-based testing.

But why are monoids so important? Where do you actually use them?

Monoids and foldable types

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In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you implemented two of the most important
functions a data type usually provides: fold and foldRight . These are very
helpful functions you can use, for instance, to calculate the sum of the values in
a List<Int> , like the following in Foldable.kt:

fun List<Int>.sumList() = fold(0) { a, b -> a + b }

As an example of foldRight , you implemented the function reverseString

like this:

fun String.reverseString() = foldRight("") { char, str -> str +

char }

Note: You called these functions sumList and reverseString so they

wouldn’t conflict with the existing sum and reverse .

To test these functions, just run the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).sumList() pipe ::println
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".reverseString() pipe
::println
}

Getting the following output:

55
suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus

As you see, fold and foldRight both need an initial value and a combine
function that’s reminiscent of the concept of Monoid<T> . It’s crucial to note
how a Monoid<T> has a single type parameter T , so the combine has type
(T, T) -> T . This makes fold and foldRight basically the same.

For this reason, it’s often useful to create an abstraction for any object with a
fold function like this, which you should add in the same Foldable.kt file:

typealias Foldable<T> = Iterable<T>

Kotlin defines fold as an extension function for Iterable<T> , so you can

create a Foldable<T> typealias of it and then define the following function:

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fun <T> Foldable<T>.fold(monoid: Monoid<T>): T =
fold(monoid.unit, monoid.combine)

Once your data type implements Iterable<T> , it also has the fold function
accepting a Monoid<T> as an input parameter.

For example, you can implement the previous sumList function like this:

fun List<Int>.sumList() = fold(MonoidIntAdd)

How can you implement the reverseString using a Monoid<String> instead?

You learned that combine in a monoid doesn’t need to be commutative. It’d be
useful, then, to implement a function that commutate s a Monoid<T> like the
following you can write in Foldable.kt:

fun <A, B, C> (A.(B) -> C).swap(): (B.(A) -> C) = { a: A -> // 1

a.this@swap(this)
}

fun <T> Monoid<T>.commutate(): Monoid<T> = object : Monoid<T> { //

2
override val unit: T
get() = this@commutate.unit
override val combine: T.(T) -> T
get() = this@commutate.combine.swap()
}

This isn’t obvious code. Here, you implement:

1. swap as a function that converts a function of type A.(B)->C in a function

of type B.(A)->C , basically swapping the receivers of types A and B .
2. commutate as an extension function for Monoid<T> that swaps the input
parameter for the combine function of the Monoid<T> you use as a
receiver. The unit is the same, while the combine is the one you get invoking
swap in the combine for the receiver.

A String doesn’t implement Iterable<T> , so you need to provide a specific

fold overload for CharSequence you implement like this:

fun CharSequence.fold(monoid: Monoid<String>): CharSequence = // 1

this.fold(monoid.unit) { a, b ->
monoid.combine(a, "$b") // 2
}

The problem here is that you have to:

1. Use a Monoid<String> .

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2. Convert the Char you get as an input parameter for the fold lambda in a
String .

Now, you can implement reverseString like this:

fun String.reverseString() = fold(MonoidStringConcat)

When you run the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).sumList() pipe ::println
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".reverseString() pipe
::println
}

You get:

55
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious // WRONG

Here, you see that the reverseString doesn’t do its job. But you can fix this
easily with the following implementation that uses commutate to invert the
combine function of the MonoidStringConcat you pass as an input parameter:

fun String.reverseString() =
fold(MonoidStringConcat.commutate())

Run main again, and now you’ll get what you expect:

55
suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus // OK!

Monoids and category theory

Now that you’ve learned what a monoid is from a practical point of view, it’s
useful to see what it actually is in the context of category theory. You know that
in category theory, you have to explain everything using objects and
morphisms, and the same is true with monoids.

Look at Figure 12.10:

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i m

Figure 12.10: Monoid in a category

This is a category with a single object, m. Of course, because it’s a category, you
have an identity im, but you also have many other morphisms from m to itself.
You also have composition, so you can compose all those morphisms, getting
other morphisms. Compared to other categories, in this case, all the morphisms
are composable because they all start and end at m.

The uniqueness of the object in this category is the characteristic that gives it the
name monoid.

You already learned that a monoid needs a set of values and a binary associative
operation along with a special value called a unit. How is this definition related
to the one you saw in category theory?

Look at Figure 12.10, and you see that the category with one object, m, has only
one hom-set, M(m, m). Remember, the hom-set is the set of all morphisms
between objects that, in this case, are equal to m, which is the only object of the
category. Because that’s a category, you say that for every couple of morphisms
in M(m, m), another morphism exists: the composition of the two that you can
call, for instance, multiplication. The composition is also part of M(m, m). This
is equivalent to the combine you met in the first — and more familiar —
definition of monoid.

In M(m, m), you also have a special morphism, called unit, that you compose
with any other morphisms m, getting m itself. This is true because every
category must have the identity morphism.

Finally, composition is associative, as is the composition of any triplet of

morphisms in the hom-set M(m, m).

It’s surprising how all the concepts you’ve seen in the previous examples can be
explained using objects and morphisms in category theory.

The semigroup typeclass

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Most of this chapter is dedicated to the monoid typeclass, which you know is
defined as a set of values, or type, along with:

A binary associative operation called combine .

A special element called unit.

You represented a monoid using the following abstraction:

public interface Monoid<T> {

val unit: T
val combine: T.(T) -> T
}

Looking at Monoid<T> , you might ask if the unit is always necessary, and the
answer is no. In the case of fold , you used the unit as a possible initial value.
What if you don’t need it?

An example is the implementation of a function that merges two List<T> s into

one. In Semigroup.kt, add the following code:

fun <T> mergeAndCombine(

listA: List<T>,
listB: List<T>,
combine: (T, T) -> T
): List<T> {
var i = 0
var j = 0
val result = mutableListOf<T>()
while (i < listA.size || j < listB.size) {
val first = if (i < listA.size) listA[i] else null
val second = if (j < listB.size) listB[i] else null
if (first != null && second != null) {
result.add(combine(first, second))
} else if (first != null) {
result.add(first)
} else if (second != null) {
result.add(second)
}
i++
j++
}
return result
}

The implementation for mergeAndCombine has some controlled mutability. It

allows you to use a combine function when creating a List<T> from two other
List<T> s, which might have different sizes. This is an example of a function
that doesn’t need a unit.

In this case, the typeclass that defines a set of values and an associative binary
operation is a semigroup you can represent like this in Semigroup.kt:

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public interface Semigroup<T> {

val combine: T.(T) -> T
}

This allows you to update the definition of Monoid<T> in Monoid.kt like this:

public interface Monoid<T> : Semigroup<T> {

val unit: T
}

A monoid is basically a semigroup with a unit. This allows you to implement

mergeAndCombine like this:

fun <T> mergeAndCombine(

listA: List<T>,
listB: List<T>,
semigroup: Semigroup<T>
): List<T> { // 1
var i = 0
var j = 0
val result = mutableListOf<T>()
while (i < listA.size || j < listB.size) {
val first = if (i < listA.size) listA[i] else null
val second = if (j < listB.size) listB[i] else null
if (first != null && second != null) {
result.add(semigroup.combine(first, second)) // 2
} else if (first != null) {
result.add(first)
} else if (second != null) {
result.add(second)
}
i++
j++
}
return result
}

This code is very similar to the previous one where you:

1. Pass a Semigroup<T> as a parameter.

2. Use the semigroup to combine the values in the two List<T> s.

As a simple test, add and run the following code:

object SemigroupIntMult : Semigroup<Int> {

override val combine: Int.(Int) -> Int
get() = Int::times
}

fun main() {
val listA = listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

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val listB = listOf(3, 5, 6)
mergeAndCombine(listA, listB, SemigroupIntMult) pipe ::println
}

Getting in output:

[3, 10, 18, 4, 5, 6]

Key points
A monoid is a set of values with an associative binary operation and a unit
element.

A monoid doesn’t need to be commutative.

The existence of the associative binary operation and the unit element are the
monoid laws.

Property-based testing is a powerful technique that allows you to verify that

a typeclass satisfies some laws by generating random values and verifying
those laws.

You can use property-based testing to verify that your monoid

implementation is correct.
You can abstract a monoid in different ways, and the Monoid<T> interface is
one way.

Monoids work very well with Foldable data types, which provide
implementations for fold and foldRight .

In category theory, a monoid is a category with a single object and many

morphisms in addition to its identity morphism.
A semigroup is a typeclass defining a binary associative function without the
need for a unit element.
A monoid is a semigroup with a unit element.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! You’ve completed these very important and fun chapters
about monoids. Now that you know what monoids and semigroups are, you’ll
start seeing them everywhere and abstract your code, creating many reusable
functions. You’re now ready for one of the most exciting concepts: monads!

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13 Understanding Monads
Written by Massimo Carli

The monad is probably one of the most important concepts in functional

programming, and it has the reputation of being very difficult to understand.
This is probably true, but the amount of effort you need also depends on the
approach you want to follow.

A possible approach is based on the formal definition: A monad is a monoid in the

category of endofunctors. None of the concepts mentioned in this definition are
new to you. In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned the concept of
categories. In Chapter 11, “Functors”, you learned everything you needed to
know about functors. Finally, in Chapter 12, “Monoids & Semigroups”, you
learned the concept of monoids. Unfortunately, this approach also requires some
mathematical knowledge that’s outside of the scope of this book.

For this reason, in this book, you’ll look at monads in a pragmatic way. Here,
you’ll start from the problem of the composition of functions in the Kleisli
category and prove that monads are a beautiful way to do it.

In this chapter, you’ll have the opportunity to:

Revise the concept of a category.

Meet the Kleisli category again.

Meet the fish operator, >=> , and the bind operator, >>= .

Revise the concept of functor using the functor laws in the implementation
of fish and bind .

Implement fish for the List<T> typeclass.

Understand why monads are so important.

See some practical examples of monads for Optional<T> and List<T> .

You’ll learn all this by using some exercises.

The road to monads!

As mentioned in this chapter’s introduction, you already have all the skills you
need to understand the concept of monads. You just need some guidance. You
basically need to revise some of the concepts you’ve met in the previous
chapters and use them to learn something new. In this section, you’ll follow a

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pragmatic approach to solving a simple problem. Given two functions:

f of type (A) -> M<B>

g of type (B) -> M<C>

You want to define a new function of type (A) -> M<C> that’s the composition
of the two. What you represent with M<A> is a generic typeclass you usually get
from A using a type constructor. Examples of M<A> are List<A> or
Optional<A> .

Note: One way to abstract any possible typeclass M<A> is called higher kind.
At the moment, Kotlin doesn’t provide this feature. But some frameworks —
like Arrow, which you’ll learn in Chapter 19 — provide tools to generate
something similar. Arrow, for instance, uses the @higherkind annotation to
generate a class Kind<ForM, T> as an abstraction of M<T> . With this,
Optional<A> would become Kind<ForOptional, A> where ForOptional is a
placeholder representing the Optional<A> type. The Optional type also
generated from this Kind . For right now, don’t worry about it. You’ll learn
everything about this in Chapter 19, “Arrow”. The only thing you need to
understand is that what you’ll create using M<A> or Kind<ForM, A> will be
valid for any specific typeclass.

What you want to implement isn’t a classic composition between two functions
because the output type for f is M<B> , but the input type for g is B . Solving
this problem is precisely what will allow you to understand what a monad is.

It’s time to start from the concept of category.

Note: In this chapter, you’ll represent generic types like M<T> . Sometimes,
you’ll represent the same type with M<A> , M<B> or using any other letter for
the type parameter like M<X> . When defining a function, which letter you use
doesn’t matter. As an example, this means you can define a lift like:

fun <T> lift(value: T): M<T> { ... }

Or like:

fun <A> lift(value: A): M<A> { ... }

The important thing is using different letters when it matters, like:

fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, B>.compose(g: Fun<B, C>): Fun<A, C> {

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... }

In short, don’t be confused by the specific letter used.

What is a category?
As you’ve learned so far, a category is the model you use to study the theory of
composition. A category is a bunch of objects and some arrows between them
called morphisms that follow some fundamental properties:

1. Composition
2. Associativity

3. Identity

There are different types of categories, but the one that’s most important for
you is the category of types and functions. For this category, the previous
properties become:

1. For every pair of functions f of type (A) -> B , and g of type (B) -> C ,
there must be a function of type (A) -> C that’s the composition of f and
g . You usually represent this function as g ◦ f , which you read as “g after
f”, or as f compose g , where compose is a function you defined as:

typealias Fun<A, B> = (A) -> B

inline infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, B>.compose(

crossinline g: Fun<B, C>
): Fun<A, C> = { a: A ->
g(this(a))
}

2. For all functions f of type (A) -> B , g of type (B) -> C , and h of type
(C) -> D , you can say that:

h ◦ (g ◦ f) = (h ◦ g) ◦ f

Or, in another way, that:

(f compose g) compose h = f compose (g compose h)

3. For every type A , there’s always a function of type (A) -> A . You call this
identity and represent it as ia . It has the following property for every
function f :

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ia ◦ f = f ◦ ia = f

But why are functions and compositions so important? You already learned that
it’s easier to understand programs if you decompose them into many small
pieces, as you can implement and test them more easily. All these pieces are
functions. To build your program, you need to put all the functions together
using composition.

The properties of a category are definitions you need to remember and digest to
really understand how particular functions compose themselves. Some
functions are special and allow you to define fundamental categories. One of
these is the Kleisli category.

The Kleisli category

In the category of types and functions, your objects are types like A , and the
morphisms are functions of type (A) -> B . So far, so good.

In the previous chapters, you learned that you can start from a type A and
create a new type you represent as M<A> using a type constructor. For
instance, given a type A , you can define the type Optional<A> or the type
List<A> . In the first example, you replaced M with Optional , and in the
second, M with List . To get an M<A> from A , you defined the lift
function. M is also the way you define a typeclass.

Note: From this point, you’ll use M<A> to define any new type you create
from A using a type constructor. As mentioned earlier, to do so, you’d need a
generic way to represent any M<A> . To ensure the code you’ll write compiles,
use a simple workaround: You’ll represent M<A> as a typealias of some
existing typeclass.

You define a category in terms of objects and morphisms. In a Kleisli category,

objects are types. Some of these types are in the form of A , and others are in
the form of M<A> . For instance, Int is a possible type, and
Optional<String> is another. It’s the same for Int and List<String> . They
all are types. In a Kleisli category, morphisms are functions of the type (A) ->
M<B> . You’re basically considering functions between a type A and a possible
embellishment or decoration of the type B you represent with M<B> .

Note: Spoiler alert: M<A> is also a functor, as you’ll see later.

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An example of these functions have type (A) -> Optional<B> , (A) ->
List<B> or the (A) -> Pair<B, String> you defined as Writer<A, B> in
Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”.

typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

The Writer<A, B> type is a perfect example because you implemented the
composition using the following code:

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<B, C>.after(

w: Writer<A, B>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A ->
val (b, str) = w(a)
val (c, str2) = this(b)
c to "$str\n$str2\n"
}

Because Writer<A, B> is just a typealias of (A) -> Pair<B, String> , you
might think of it as a special case of (A) -> M<B> where M<B> is Pair<B,
String> .

Note: Second spoiler alert: Writer<A, B> with the after function is a
monad!

Of course, this is the implementation of composition for the typeclass

Writer<A, B> . Can you implement the same for all the functions of the Kleisli
category? The answer is yes! To understand how, imagine this is possible using a
special operator you call fish and represent as >=> . How can you implement
the fish operator, >=> , then?

Note: Yes, you really call that operator “fish”! This is the name Bartosz
Milewski gave it in his Category Theory course on YouTube. The reason is that
it looks like a shark. You’ll give it a more formal name later.

The sh operator >=>

Suppose you want to define a composition between two functions in the Kleisli
category. Given a function f of type (A) -> M<B> and a function g of type
(B) -> M<C> , you want to define an operator, called the fish operator, which
you represent as >=> . It does the following:

((A) -> M<B>) >=> ((B) -> M<C>) -> ((A) -> M<C>)

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Or

f >=> g

The result of f >=> g is a function of type (A) -> M<C> . To better understand
how to implement this operator, it’s crucial to note that the output type for f is
M<B> , while the type for the input of g is B . There’s some type impedance
because B isn’t M<B> . The goal is to define what you really need to create an
implementation of the fish operator for all the typeclasses M .

What you need to get is a function of type (A) -> M<C> , which is a function
from A to M<C> . Open Monad.kt in the material for this project and add the
following code:

typealias M<T> = List<T> // 1

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, M<B>>.fish( // 2

g: Fun<B, M<C>> // 3
): (A) -> M<C> = // 4
{ a: A ->
TODO("Add implementation")
}

Here, you define:

1. M<T> as a typealias of List<T> , as mentioned earlier. This allows you to

successfully compile all the code you’ll write.

2. fish as an infix extension function for the type Fun<A, M<B>> .

3. g as the parameter for fish of type Fun<B, M<C>> .

4. Fun<A, M<C>> as the return type of fish .

At the moment, you just know that you need to return a function of A , so you
define it as a lambda with a single parameter a of type A . Because you have
f , the first — and probably the only — thing you can do now is apply it to the
input a of type A like this:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, M<B>>.fish(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): (A) -> M<C> =
{ a: A ->
val mb : M<B> = this(a) // HERE
TODO("Add implementation")
}

Here, mb has type M<B> , which you defined explicitly to make the code

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clearer.

Now, you have g , which has type (B) -> M<C> . The question is: How can you
use mb of type M<B> and g of type (B) -> M<C> to get a value of type M<C> ?

At this point, you don’t know it yet, but you can delegate this operation to
another operator called bind , which you represent with >>= .

Note: Kotlin doesn’t allow you to define operators with the names >=> or
>>= . This is why you’ll use the names fish and bind .

Represent the type of >>= with the following code you add in Monad.kt:

infix fun <B, C> M<B>.bind(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): M<C> {
TODO("Add implementation")
}

Here, you define bind as an extension function of M<B> , accepting g of type

(B) -> M<C> as an input parameter, and returning a value of type M<C> .
Assuming you have the implementation of bind for your typeclass M , fish
becomes:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, M<B>>.fish(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): (A) -> M<C> =
{ a: A ->
val mb = this(a)
mb.bind(g) // HERE
}

Note: As you can easily verify, the previous code compiles as soon as you use
M<A> as a typealias of List<A> . This is also true for any other type that — as
you’ll see later — provides a map function or, in other words, is a functor.

At this point, it’s crucial to understand that:

bind is somehow related to the typeclass M .

If you define bind for M , you also define fish .

These two sentences are very powerful because they allow you to have a first
pragmatic definition of monad.

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A pragmatic de nition of monad

A first pragmatic definition of monad comes from what you learned above. A
monad is basically a typeclass M for which you define the following two
functions:

bind of type (M<A>, Fun<A, M<B>>) -> M<B>

lift of type (A) -> M<A>

Given bind and lift , you can implement the fish operator and compose
two functions in the related Kleisli category. This means that a possible way to
define a monad is through a Monad<T> interface, like the following you add to
Monad.kt:

interface Monad<T> {

fun lift(value: T): Monad<T>

fun <B> bind(g: Fun<T, M<B>>): Monad<B>

}

Implementing bind isn’t so obvious, but you can make the implementation
easier as soon as you realize that M<T> is a functor!

What is a functor?
In Chapter 11, “Functors”, you learned that a functor is essentially a way to map
objects and morphisms of a category C in objects and morphisms in a category
D following some rules that you call functor laws.

You probably remember that a functor preserves structure, and you represent this
with the following properties:

Composition, which means that F (g ◦ f) = F g ◦ F f.

Identity, which means that F ia = i Fa.

The first law says that a functor maps the morphism g ◦ f composition of f and g
in the composition of the morphisms Fg and Ff.

The second law says that a functor maps the identity of the source category in
the identity of the category you use as the destination.

The good news now is that the types you’re representing with M<A> are exactly
the functor you called Fa before. If you think of the objects for the source
category types A and the objects of the destination category as M<B> , you

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understand that a function of type (A) -> M<B> is exactly the functor that
maps an object of the source category to the object of the destination category.

F
Fa
a

g°f
Ff F( g ° f )
f
Fb
b
g Fg
c Fc

C D
Figure 13.1: Mapping objects

As you see in Figure 13.1, the composition of Ff and Fg is equal to F (g ◦ f). You
can write this like:

Fg ◦ Ff = F (g ◦ f)

To make the concept more familiar, replace F with M and see that:

1. F is basically a way to map the object a of type A in C to the object of type Fa

in D. If you replace F with M , you realize that this is exactly the function that
allows you to map values of type A to values of type M<A> .

2. A function f of type (A) -> B in C is mapped to a function Ff of type (M<A>)

-> M<B> in D.

3. Composing a function f of type (A) -> B with g of type (B) -> C in the
category C is equivalent to composing the two functions of type (M<A>) ->
M<B> and (M<B>) -> M<C> in D.

4. Finally, the functor laws say that composing f and g and then lifting to M is
equivalent to lifting f and g using M and then composing.

In other words, given a value of type A , you can do the following:

1. Apply f to the value of type A and get a value of type B .

2. Apply g to the value of type B and get a value of type C .

3. Lift the result of type C into a value of type M<C> .

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Another option is to:

1. Lift the value of type A into a value of type M<A> .

2. Invoke map on the value of type M<A> , passing the function f as a

parameter and getting a value of type M<B> .

3. Invoke map on the value of type M<B> , passing g as a parameter and getting
a value of type M<C> .

The functor laws say that the values of type M<C> you get in the two distinct
ways are exactly the same.

Now, you’ll use these properties to simplify the implementation of the bind
operator, >>= .

Monads as functors
You want to find an easier way to implement bind for all the M<B> . What the
bind operator does is apply g to a value of type M<B> . Because M<B> is a
functor and g is of type (B) -> M<C> , you can apply g to M<B> , invoking
the map function. This is because a functor rule says that lift and map is
equivalent to map and lift .

In other words, given a type A , you can first lift it to M<A> and then apply a
function f of type (A) -> B using M<A>.map(f) . Or you can first apply the
function f to the value of type A and get a value of type B and then lift it,
getting an M<B> .

Given that, you can rewrite bind in Monad.kt like this:

infix fun <B, C> M<B>.bind(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): M<C> {
val tmp : M<M<C>> = map(g) // HERE
TODO("Fix the return type")
}

As defined explicitly, the type of the temporal variable tmp is M<M<C>> . What
you get from map is a double embellishment. As you did earlier, you can think of a
function, called flatten , that does exactly what its name states. It flattens the
type M<M<A>> to a single M<A> . Now, add the following function to Monad.kt:

fun <A> M<M<A>>.flatten(): M<A> {

TODO("")
}

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And change bind like this:

infix fun <B, C> M<B>.bind(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): M<C> =
map(g).flatten() // HERE

Note: Here, you’re assuming that M<A> has the map function following the
functor laws. If you’ve used M<A> as a typealias of List<A> , this comes for
free.

With this, you can also simplify the implementation for fish like this:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, M<B>>.fish(

g: Fun<B, M<C>>
): (A) -> M<C> =
{ a: A ->
this(a).bind(g) // HERE
}

What you need now is an implementation of flatten for your typeclass M . A

practical example can help you understand how to do that.

A practical example of a monad

As an example of what you’ve found so far, you’ll now implement the fish
operator for List<T> . All you have to do is define the implementation for
listFlatten .

Note: As you’ve done before, you change the name of flatten in

listFlatten to avoid conflict with the code you wrote above. You’ll do the
same for other functions.

You basically need to define the following function in the ListMonad.kt file you
find in the material for this chapter:

fun <T> List<List<T>>.listFlatten(): List<T> {

TODO("")
}

This function starts from a List<List<T>> and must return a List<T> . One of
the implementations to do that is the following, which you can add to the same
ListMonad.kt:

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fun <T> List<List<T>>.listFlatten(): List<T> =

this.fold(mutableListOf()) { acc, item ->
acc.apply {
addAll(item)
}
}

You can also define listBind like this:

infix fun <B, C> List<B>.listBind(

g: Fun<B, List<C>>
): List<C> =
map(g).listFlatten()

Finally, the implementation for listFish is:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, List<B>>.listFish(

g: Fun<B, List<C>>
): Fun<A, List<C>> = { a: A ->
this(a).listBind(g)
}

As proof of this, you can add the following code to ListMonad.kt:

val countList: (Int) -> List<Int> =

{ n: Int -> List(n) { it + 1 } } // 1

val intToChars =
{ n: Int -> List(n) { 'a' + n } } // 2

fun main() {
val fished = countList listFish intToChars // 3
fished(3) pipe ::println
}

In this example, you define:

1. countList as a function of type (Int) -> List<Int> that returns a list

containing values from 1 to an Int value you pass in as input. For
instance, given 2 , it returns the List<Int> with values 1 and 2 .

2. intToChars as a function of type (Int) -> List<Char> that returns the

List<Char> you get by adding the input value to a . For instance, passing
2 , you get a List<Char> with two c s.

3. fished as a variable of type (Int) -> List<Char> containing the

composition of countList and intToChars .

Run the previous code, and you get:

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[b, c, c, d, d, d]

Of course, this is just an example, and it doesn’t really matter what the two
functions you’re composing do. The important thing is that listFish works.
But, what’s the logic of listFish ?

In the previous section:

1. You saw that a monad is a functor, and it has a map .

2. You implemented flatten as a way to map values of type M<M<A>> in
values of type M<A> .

The map and flatten names should remind you of a function called
flatMap , which you met in Chapter 7, “Functional Data Structure”. This is the
same function, and what you learned here is the reason for its name.

To prove it, just add the following code in main in ListMonad.kt:

fun main() {
// ...
countList(3).flatMap(intToChars) pipe ::println
}

Run the code now, and you get exactly the same result:

[b, c, c, d, d, d]

Exercise 13.1: How would you make the Optional<T> data type you created
in Chapter 9, “Data Types”, a monad? If you need help, you can check out the
solution in Appendix L.

Exercise 13.2: What’s the relation between the fish operator, >=> , and
flatMap ? Can you express the latter in terms of the former for Optional<T> ?
A solution is in Appendix L if you need it.

Why monads?
This is all fascinating, but why do you really need monads? The answer is in the
problem monads solve and precisely in the composition of what you call Kleisli
arrows and represent as a function of type (A) -> M<B> .

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In Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you learned the difference
between a pure and impure function. A pure function:

Has body that’s referentially transparent.

Doesn’t have any side effects.

You also learned that you can transform a function with side effects into a pure
function by just making the effect part of the returning type. The Writer<A,
B> type is a great example of this. In Exercises 13.1 and 13.2, you implemented
flatMap for the Optional<T> type. It’s basically a method to compose
functions of type (A) -> Optional<B> .

Note: From here, you’ll use a flatMap implementation for Optional<T>

that’s the solution to Exercise 13.1. Feel free to solve the exercise first or go
directly to the solution in Appendix L and copy its code in OptionalMonad.kt.
If you solved the exercise, just use that code directly.

A partial function is a function that isn’t valid for all the values in its domain. A
very simple example is the following, which you should write in
OptionalMonad.kt:

fun strToInt(str: String): Int =

str.toInt()

This is a very simple function that converts a String in an Int . Of course, not
all the String s contain a value that can be converted into Int s. Run:

fun main() {
strToInt("123") pipe ::println
}

And you get:

123

Run the code:

fun main() {
strToInt("onetwothree") pipe ::println
}

And you get:

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Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NumberFormatException: For

input string: "onetwothree"
at
java.lang.NumberFormatException.forInputString(NumberFormatExceptio
n.java:65)

This is because "onetwothree" can’t be converted to Int . strToInt is an

example of a partial function because it doesn’t make sense for all the values in
its domain. More importantly, strToInt is not pure because it has side effects,
which is the exception that it throws when the input isn’t valid. How can you
make strToInt pure? You already know the answer. You make the effect part
of the return type.

In Chapter 14, “Error Handling With Functional Programming”, you’ll see a

better way to handle this case, but for now, you can just model the result using
an Optional<Int> and replace the current strToInt implementation with the
following:

fun strToInt(str: String): Optional<Int> = // 1

try {
Optional.lift(str.toInt()) // 2
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
None // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Replace the strToInt return type with Optional<Int> .

2. Convert the String value to Int and lift the result in the case of
success.

3. Return None in the case of NumberFormatException .

Now, run the main again, and you get something like this:

com.raywenderlich.fp.exercise1.None@372f7a8d

Besides the fact that toString() isn’t implemented for None , you see that you
get None as the result. A test for this would now be as easy as writing in the
OptionalMonadKtTest.kt file in the material for this project:

class OptionalMonadKtTest {

@Test
fun `When input is not valid returns None`() {
assertThat(strToInt("onetwothree")).isEqualTo(None)
}
}

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Once you have a pure strToInt , you might need to compose it with another
function that also returns an Optional<T> . A possible example of a function
you might need to compose with the previous is the following, which you can
add to OptionalMonad.kt:

fun root(number: Int): Optional<Double> =

if (number < 0) None else Optional.lift(sqrt(number.toDouble()))

This is another partial function that accepts only positive values.

Note: In this case, you’re ignoring imaginary numbers.

How can you then compose strToInt with root ? The answer is simple now,
and it’s one you accomplish with the following code:

fun main() {
val strToRoot = ::strToInt optionalFish ::root // 1
strToRoot("onetwothree") pipe ::println // 2
strToRoot("123") pipe ::println // 3
}

Here, you:

1. Use optionalFish to get the function strToRoot , which is the composition

of strToInt and root .
2. Invoke strToRoot with a value not in the domain.
3. Invoke strToRoot again with a valid input.

Running the previous code, you get something like:

com.raywenderlich.fp.exercise1.None@1f32e575
Some(value=11.090536506409418)

If you want to use the flatMap you implemented in Exercise 13.2, run the
following code:

fun main() {
// ...
strToInt("onetwothree").flatMap(::root) pipe ::println
strToInt("123").flatMap(::root) pipe ::println
}

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Getting the same output:

com.raywenderlich.fp.exercise1.None@1f32e575
Some(value=11.090536506409418)

Monads are important because they allow you to compose functions that handle
side effects as part of the return type.

Key points
A monad is a monoid in the category of endofunctors.

Monads solve the problem of the composition of Kleisli arrows, which are
functions of type (A) -> M<B> .

Kleisli arrows are how you model functions from a type A to an embellished
version of a type B you represent as M<B> .
The embellishment of a type M<A> is a way to encapsulate effects in the
return type of a function.

Monads are functors and provide a map function following the functor laws.

You implement the fish operator, >=> , to achieve composition between

two Kleisli arrows. It composes a function of type (A) -> M<B> with a
function of type (B) -> M<C> to get a function of type (A) -> M<C> .

The bind operator, >>= , is a way to solve the type impedance between a
function returning a value of type M<B> and a function accepting a value of
type B in input.
The flatten function allows you to simplify the way you implement bind
in the case of functors. It has type (M<M<A>>) -> M<A> .
You can implement flatMap using fish , bind and flatten .
Monads are the way you compose functions encapsulating side effects in the
result type.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! This is probably the most challenging chapter of the book but
also the most rewarding. You now understand what a monad is, and you’ll see
many different and important monads in the third section of the book. Now, it’s
time to write some code and apply all the concepts you learned in the first two
sections of the book.

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14 Error Handling With

Functional Programming
Written by Massimo Carli

In the first two sections of this book, you learned everything you need to know
about pure functions. You learned that a pure function has a body that’s
referentially transparent and, maybe more importantly, doesn’t have side
effects. A side effect is a “disturbance” of the world external to the function,
making the function difficult to test. Exceptions are a very common example of
a side effect. A function containing code that throws an exception isn’t pure and
must be fixed if you want to use all the concepts you’ve learned so far.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to handle exceptions — and errors in general —
using a functional programming approach. You’ll start with a very simple
example before exploring the solution Kotlin provides using the Result<T>
data type. In particular, you’ll learn:

What exception handling means.

How to handle exceptions as side effects.

How to “purify” functions that throw exceptions.

How to use Optional<T> in functions with exceptions.

How to use Either<E, T> to handle exceptions in a functional way.

How to implement a ResultAp<E, T> monad.
How to compose functions that can throw exceptions.

What the Kotlin Result<T> data type is and how to use it in your application.

You’ll learn all this with a practical example that allows you to fetch and parse
some content from the internet. This is the same code you’ll use in the RayTV
app, which allows you to access data about your favorite TV shows.

Note: You’ll use the RayTV app in the following chapters as well.

You’ll also have the chance for some fun with a few exercises.

Exception handling

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Note: Feel free to skip this section if you already have a clear understanding
of what exceptions are and why they exist.

Every application is the implementation of a set of use cases in code. A use case
is a way you describe how a specific user can interact with a system. Figure 14.1
is an example of a use case describing the scenario when a RayTV app user
wants to search for their favorite TV show.

Figure 14.1: RayTV search use case

This use case diagram says two main things:

1. Who can access the specific feature of the app. In this case, it’s the RayTV app
user.

2. What the RayTV app can do. In this case, it allows the user to search for a TV
show by name.

Usually, you also describe the use case in words by writing a document like this:

Use Case: Search TV shows

Actors: RayTV app
Prerequisites: The user starts the RayTV app.
Steps:
1. The user selects the search option.
2. The app shows the keyboard.
3. The user inputs some text.
4. The user taps the search button.
5. The app accesses the search service and fetches the results.
6. The app displays the results in a list.
Final state: The app displays the results of the search.

It describes what the user can do and how the system reacts. This use case is
very specific, though. It describes when everything works fine. You call this the
happy path or principal use case. Many things can go wrong. For instance, a
network error can happen, or the search simply doesn’t produce any results. In
this case, you describe these situations using alternative use cases, like the
one in Figure 14.2:

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Figure 14.2: RayTV alternative use case

In this case, you describe the scenario as a use case that shows what happens
when the happy path isn’t followed. In this case, the search doesn’t produce any
result. Usually, you describe this scenario with a document like this:

Use Case: Handle empty results

Actors: RayTV app
Prerequisites: A TV show search produced no results.
Steps:
1. The app displays a message that says the search has produced no
results.
Final state: The app waits for action from the user.

This is all good, but what do use cases have to do with errors and exceptions?
Well, exceptions aren’t always bad things. They’re just a way programming
languages represent alternative scenarios. In general, you have three different
types of situations:

Errors: These represent cases when something really wrong happens. They
aren’t recoverable, and the developer should understand the cause and solve
it. Typical examples are VirtualMachineException , IOError or
AssertionError .

Checked exceptions: This is the type of exception that describes alternative

use cases. If you have a connection error, you should somehow handle it. A
user entering an invalid credit card number is a common occurrence, so it’s
something your code should be prepared to handle. These are checked
because in some programming languages, like Java, you have to explicitly
declare them in the signature of the method that can throw them.

Unchecked exceptions: RuntimeException is another way to describe this

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type of exception because it can happen at runtime. A typical one is
NullPointerException , which is thrown when you access a member of an
object through a null reference. Although you can recover from a
RuntimeException , they usually describe bugs you should eventually fix.

Kotlin doesn’t have checked exceptions, which means you don’t need to declare
them as part of the function throwing them. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t
handle the exception. Kotlin represents them with classes extending
Throwable and still provides you the try-catch-finally expression. So
what’s the best way to handle exceptions controlling the flow of your program?
Now that you have a solid functional programming background, you know that
exceptions are side effects. How can you use what you’ve learned to handle
exceptions elegantly and efficiently? Monads, of course! :]

Note: It’s interesting to remember how the type of the following expression is
Nothing :

throw IOException("Something bad happens")

Remembering the analogy between types and sets, you know that Nothing is
a subtype of any other type. This means the value you return when you throw
an exception has a type compatible with the return type of the function itself.

Handling exception strategies

In Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, you learned that functions throwing
exceptions are impure. An exception changes the world outside the body of a
function. In the same chapter, you also learned how to purify a function by
changing the side effect to be part of the return type. The same works for
exceptions, and you can achieve this using different data types depending on the
strategy you want to adopt. Different strategies include:

1. Fail fast: Stopping the execution flow of your program and returning the
first error that happens. You use this approach when you can’t proceed
because you need data that you failed to get in a previous step.

2. Collection errors: Proceeding in your program flow, collecting all the errors
and making them part of the final result. Validation of some data is a classic
example. An address, for instance, can be wrong for many different reasons,
and you’d like to collect them all.

For each of these strategies, you can use functional programming:

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1. Optional<T> or Either<E, T> for failing fast.
2. Applicative functors for collection errors.

It’s now helpful to see both of them using some practical examples.

Some preparation
Before describing the different ways of handling exceptions, it’s useful to look at
some of the classes you find in the material for this chapter. These are the
classes you initially find in the fp_kotlin_cap14 project, and you’ll see them
again in the RayTV app in their final state. The RayTV app will allow you to
search for a TV show and display some of the show’s information on the screen.
This is basically the use case in Figure 14.1.

Note: For the RayTV app, you’ll use a simple API from TVmaze, which doesn’t
require a key or registration.

In the tools sub-package, you already have the code for:

Fetching the TV show data, given some query as input.

Parsing the JSON to get the information you need encapsulated into a model
you find in the model sub-package.

Note: All the sub-packages are related to the main package for the
application, which is com.raywenderlich.fp.

In TvShowFetcher.kt, you have the code to send a request to the server, which
returns a String .

object TvShowFetcher {
fun fetch(query: String): String {
val encodedUrl = java.net.URLEncoder.encode(query, "utf-8")
val localUrl =
URL("https://api.tvmaze.com/search/shows?q=$encodedUrl")
with(localUrl.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection) {
requestMethod = "GET"
val reader = inputStream.bufferedReader()
return reader.lines().toArray().asSequence()
.fold(StringBuilder()) { builder, line ->
builder.append(line)
}.toString()
}
}
}

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In TvShowParser.kt, you have the code that parses the JSON, returning a list of
ScoredShow , which is the class you use to describe each result.

Note: TvShowParser uses the kotlinx.serialization library.

object TvShowParser {
/** Parses the input json */
fun parse(json: String): List<ScoredShow> = Json {
ignoreUnknownKeys = true
}.decodeFromString<List<ScoredShow>>(
ListSerializer(ScoredShow.serializer()), json
)
}

How TvShowFetcher and TvShowParser accomplish the fetching and parsing

of the data from the server isn’t relevant. However, it’s crucial to note that
neither fetch nor parse handles exceptions. If something goes wrong, you’ll
get an exception that the callers should handle.

To prove that, run some unit tests you find where shown in Figure 14.3:

Figure 14.3: TvShowFetcher and TvShowParser unit tests

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Of course, TvShowFetcher makes a network request, which can fail for many
reasons, like a simple missing connection. The TvShowParser can fail simply by
getting an incorrect JSON input. But how can you handle these exceptions?

Handling errors with Optional<T>

The RayTV app sends a request to the server, gets some JSON back, parses it and
displays the result to the user. This is the happy path, but many things can go
wrong. Both TvShowFetcher::fetch and TvShowParser::parse can fail.

Open ShowSearchService.kt in optional and add the following code:

fun fetchTvShowOptional(
query: String
): Optional<String> = try { // 1
Optional.lift(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query))
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
Optional.empty()
}

/** Invokes the parser returning an Optional */

fun parseTvShowString(
json: String
): Optional<List<ScoredShow>> =
try { // 2
Optional.lift(TvShowParser.parse(json)) // 2
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
Optional.empty()
}

Here, you define:

1. fetchTvShowOptional , which invokes TvShowFetcher::fetch and returns

an Optional<String> with the JSON in the case of success. In the case of an
error, it simply returns None .

2. parseTvShowString , which invokes TvShowParser::parse and returns an

Optional<List<ScoredShow>> in the case of success and None in the case
of an error.

Both use the try-catch expression and the Optional<T> type you find in lib.

Now, fetchTvShowOptional has type (String) -> Optional<String> and

parseTvShowString has type (String) -> Optional<List<ScoredShow>> .
What if you want to fetch and then parse?

This is exactly what you learned in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, where
you implemented flatten and bind to basically create flatMap .

In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you implemented flatMap like:

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fun <A, B> Optional<A>.flatMap(

fn: Fun<A, Optional<B>>
): Optional<B> = when (this) {
is None -> Optional.empty()
is Some<A> -> {
val res = fn(value)
when (res) {
is None -> Optional.empty()
is Some<B> -> Optional.lift(res.value)
}
}
}

In Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, you implemented this too, providing

an implementation for flatten . In any case, you compose
fetchTvShowOptional and parseTvShowString , adding this code to
ShowSearchService.kt in the optional package:

fun fetchAndParseTvShow(query: String) =

fetchTvShowOptional(query)
.flatMap(::parseTvShowString)

fetchAndParseTvShow is now the composition of fetchTvShowOptional and

parseTvShowString , and it has type (String) ->
Optional<List<ScoredShow>> .

To test how it works, just run this:

fun main() {
fetchAndParseTvShow("Big Bang Theory") // 1
.getOrDefault(emptyList<ScoredShow>()) pipe ::println // 2
}

Here, you:

1. Invoke fetchAndParseTvShow , getting an Optional<List<ScoredShow>> .

2. Use getOrDefault to provide a default value in the case of an error.

Getting something like:

[ScoredShow(score=1.2612172, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big Bang

Theory, genres=[Comedy], url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-
big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/o
riginal_untouched/173/433868.jpg,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> ... </p>,
language=English))]

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This is quite good because it allows you to test each function in isolation and
then trust the composition between two functions in the Kleisli category, as you
learned in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”. However, you can do much
better. Disconnect your computer and run the code again, and you’ll get the
following output:

[]

Is this an error, or is this the actual result coming from the server? With the
previous code, you’d never know. You need a way to get more information about
the error. Regardless, a good point about this solution is that you don’t invoke
parseTvShowString at all if the fetchAndParseTvShow fails.

Handling errors with Either<E, T>

The Optional<T> data type is very useful, but it just tells you if you have a
response; it doesn’t tell you what the error is if something goes wrong. In this
case, a data type like Either<E, T> can help you. In lib, you’ll find Either.kt,
which contains all the code you implemented in Chapter 9, “Data Types”. To see
how to use it, just add the following code to ShowSearchService.kt, this time in
the either sub-package:

fun fetchTvShowEither(
query: String
): Either<IOException, String> = try {
Either.right(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query)) // 1
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
Either.left(ioe)
}

/** Invokes the parser returning an Optional */

fun parseTvShowEither(
json: String
): Either<SerializationException, List<ScoredShow>> = try {
Either.right(TvShowParser.parse(json)) // 2
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
Either.left(e)
}

This case is somewhat similar to Optional<T> , but using Either<E, T> . Here,
you define:

1. fetchTvShowEither , which invokes TvShowFetcher::fetch and returns

the result as Either.Right<String> in the case of success and the
exception in an Either.Left<IOException> in the case of an error. Note
how the result type is Either<IOException, String> .

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2. parseTvShowEither , which invokes TvShowParser::parse and returns the
result as Either.Right in the case of success and the exception in an
Either.Left in the case of an error. In this case, the return type is
Either<SerializationException, List<ScoredShow>> .

As you did with Optional<T> , you use flatMap to create the following, which
you add to the same file:

fun fetchAndParseTvShowEither(query: String) =

fetchTvShowEither(query)
.flatMap(::parseTvShowEither)

Here, you use flatMap to compose fetchTvShowEither and

parseTvShowEither in a function of type (String) -> Either<Exception,
List<ScoredShow>> . Note how the type parameter value for Left<T> is
Exception and not IOException or SerializationException . This is
because Exception is the common ancestor type of the two, and this depends
on the specific implementation of flatMap you implemented in Chapter 9,
“Data Types”, and you find in Either.kt in lib:

fun <A, B, D> Either<A, B>.flatMap(

fn: (B) -> Either<A, D>
): Either<A, D> = when (this) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(left)
is Right<B> -> {
val result = fn(right)
when (result) {
is Left<A> -> Either.left(result.left)
is Right<D> -> Either.right(result.right)
}
}
}

To test fetchAndParseTvShowEither , simply add and run the following code:

fun main() {
fetchAndParseTvShowEither("Big Bang Theory")
.leftMap {
println("Error: $it")
}
.rightMap {
println("Result: $it")
}
}

Getting:

Result: [ScoredShow(score=1.2627451, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big

Bang Theory, genres=[Comedy],

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url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/o
riginal_untouched/173/433868.jpg,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy...
</p>, language=English))]

The interesting part happens when you have some errors. Disconnect your
computer from the network and run the code again. You’ll get something like:

Error: java.net.UnknownHostException: api.tvmaze.com

If you restore the network and “sabotage” parseTvShowEither by adding some

text to the json parameter like this:

fun parseTvShowEither(json: String): Either<SerializationException,

List<ScoredShow>> =
try {
Either.right(TvShowParser.parse(json+"sabotage")) // HERE
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
Either.left(e)
}

You’ll get:

Error: kotlinx.serialization.json.internal.JsonDecodingException:
Unexpected JSON token at offset 1589: Expected EOF after parsing,
but had s instead
JSON input: .....ze.com/episodes/1646220}}}}]sabotage

As you see, the first exception that happens is the one you’ll get as output. This
is also true because you can’t parse JSON you don’t have in the case of a
fetching error. In some cases, you want to collect all the exceptions that happen,
which is a classic use of the applicative functor.

Applicative functor
In the previous section, you learned how to handle exceptions using
Optional<T> and Either<E, T> data types following a fail fast approach that
stops the execution flow at the first exception. With Either<E, T> , you also get
what’s wrong. In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you learned that Either<A, B> is a
bifunctor, which is an algebraic data type representing the addition of two
types, A and B . In the previous use case, you used Left<E> to represent the
error case and Right<T> for the success case.

In the context of error handling, you usually create a dedicated data type you

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call Result<E, T> .

Note: As you’ll learn later, Kotlin provides a built-in Result<T> data type,
which is different from the one you’ll create in this section. To avoid conflicts,
you’ll call yours ResultAp<E, T> , where the Ap suffix represents its
applicative behavior.

As a first step, open ResultAp.kt in applicative and add the following code:

sealed class ResultAp<out E : Throwable, out T> { // 1

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <E : Throwable> error(
error: E
): ResultAp<E, Nothing> = Error(error) // 2

@JvmStatic
fun <T> success(
value: T
): ResultAp<Nothing, T> = Success(value) // 2
}
}

data class Error<E : Throwable>(

val error: E
) : ResultAp<E, Nothing>() // 3
data class Success<T>(
val value: T
) : ResultAp<Nothing, T>() // 3

fun <E1 : Throwable, E2 : Throwable, T> ResultAp<E1, T>.errorMap(

fl: (E1) -> E2
): ResultAp<E2, T> = when (this) { // 4
is Error<E1> -> ResultAp.error(fl(error))
is Success<T> -> this
}

fun <E : Throwable, T, R> ResultAp<E, T>.successMap(

fr: (T) -> R
): ResultAp<E, R> = when (this) { // 5
is Error<E> -> this
is Success<T> -> ResultAp.success(fr(value))
}

ResultAp<E, T> is very similar to Either<E, T> and, besides the name, it
differs in that:

1. Parameter type E has Throwable as its upper bound. This allows you to
just use exceptions for the type E , but you can also remove that limitation if
you prefer.

2. Factory methods are now called error and success to make their

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meaning explicit.

3. Error and Success types replace Left and Right .

4. mapLeft becomes errorMap .

5. mapRight becomes successMap .

Exercise 14.1: ResultAp<E, T> is very similar to Either<E, T> . Can you
implement flatMap for it as well?

Exercise 14.2: In the previous paragraphs, you implemented a simple

system to fetch and parse data using both Optional<T> and Either<E, T> .
Can you do the same using ResultAp<E, T> ?

Yeah, it’s true. With ResultAp<E, T> , you haven’t done much yet, but now
comes the fun!

ResultAp<E, T> as an applicative functor

One of the most important things you’ve learned in this book is that functions are
values, which is why you can implement higher-order functions. This also means
that T in ResultAp<E, T> can be a function type like (T) -> T . So, what
would the meaning be of a function ap with the following signature?

fun <E : Throwable, T, R> ResultAp<E, T>.ap( // 1

fn: ResultAp<E, (T) -> R> // 2
): ResultAp<E, R> { // 3
// ...
}

In this code, ap :

1. Is an extension function for the ResultAp<E, T> type.

2. Accepts a parameter of type ResultAp<E, (T) -> R> where the value in the
case of success is a function (T) -> R .
3. Returns ResultAp<E, R> .

This is basically a way to apply a function to a value only in the case of success,
as you see in the implementation you add in ResultAp.kt in applicative:

fun <E : Throwable, T, R> ResultAp<E, T>.ap(

fn: ResultAp<E, (T) -> R>
): ResultAp<E, R> = when (fn) {
is Success<(T) -> R> -> successMap(fn.value)

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is Error<E> -> when (this) {
is Success<T> -> Error(fn.error)
is Error<E> -> Error(this.error)
}
}

Cool. Now you understand what it is, but how can ap be useful in the context
of exception handling? A typical case involves validation.

Open Validation.kt in validation and add the following User data class.

data class User(

val id: Int,
val name: String,
val email: String
)

Now, imagine you want to create a User starting with some values you enter
from a UI, and those values require some sort of validation. To simulate that,
add this code to the same file:

class ValidationException(msg: String) : Exception(msg) // 1

/** Name validation */

fun validateName(
name: String
): ResultAp<ValidationException, String> =
if (name.length > 4) {
Success(name)
} else {
Error(ValidationException("Invalid name"))
} // 2

/** Email validation */

fun validateEmail(
email: String
): ResultAp<ValidationException, String> =
if (email.contains("@")) {
Success(email)
} else {
Error(ValidationException("Invalid email"))
} // 3

Note: Of course, you can make the ValidationException more informative,

explaining what’s wrong and how to fix it.

In this code, you define:

1. ValidationException as a simple Exception , representing validation

errors.

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2. validateName as a function that validates the name property.

3. validateEmail as doing the same for emails.

Now comes the magic! Just add this to the same file:

fun main() {
val userBuilder = ::User.curry() // 1
val userApplicative = ResultAp.success(userBuilder) // 2
val idAp = ResultAp.success(1) // 3
validateEmail("max@maxcarli.it") // 6
.ap(
validateName("") // 5
.ap(
idAp.ap(userApplicative) // 4
)
)
.errorMap { // 7
println("Error: $it"); it
}
.successMap { // 7
println("Success $it")
}
}

This code has numerous interesting points:

1. ::User is how you represent a reference to a constructor in Kotlin. As

mentioned, this is a function of type (Int, String, String) -> User .
Using the curry implementations you find in Curry.kt in lib, you get a
function of type (Int) -> (String) -> (String) -> User , which you save
in userBuilder .

2. Using ResultAp::success , you save the reference of a function of type

ResultAp<ValidationException, (Int) -> (String) -> (String) ->
User> in userApplicative .

3. You don’t validate the value for id , so you just create a

ResultAp.Success<Int> from it.

4. Remember that userApplicative has type

ResultAp<ValidationException, (Int) -> (String) -> (String) ->
User> . Invoking ap on idAp , you basically get a
ResultAp<ValidationException, (String) -> (String) -> User> . Note
how this invocation has somehow swallowed the Int parameter.

5. You now pass the value you got from the previous point to ap of the
Result<ValidationException, String> you get from validateName . This
swallows another parameter, and you get a ResultAp<ValidationException,
(String) -> User> .

6. Finally, you now pass the last value to the ResultAp<ValidationException,

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String> you get from validateEmail and get a
Result<ValidationException, User> , which is the final result.

7. You can use errorMap to handle the ValidationException or successMap

to handle instances of User that survived validation.

Run the previous code, and you’ll get:

Error: com.raywenderlich.fp.validation.ValidationException: Invalid

Name

This is because the name you’re passing is empty.

Just apply this change to add a name and run the code again:

fun main() {
// ...
validateEmail("max@maxcarli.it")
.ap(
validateName("Massimo") // HERE
.ap(idAp.ap(userApplicative))
)
// ...
}

You’ll get:

Success User(id=1, name=Massimo, email=max@maxcarli.it)

This looks good, but you still have two problems to solve:

1. As an expert functional programming engineer, you probably don’t like all

those parentheses. It would be nice to make the syntax simpler.

2. If you enter an invalid email and an invalid name, you only get the error
about the former. It would be nice to know about both.

You can solve the first problem by adding the following code that creates appl
as an infix version of ap :

infix fun <E : Throwable, A, B> ResultAp<E, (A) -> B>.appl(

a: ResultAp<E, A>
) = a.ap(this)

Now, you can write the main like this:

fun main() {
val userBuilder = ::User.curry()

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val userApplicative = ResultAp.success(userBuilder)
val idAp = ResultAp.success(1)
(userApplicative appl
idAp appl
validateName("Massimo") appl
validateEmail("max@maxcarli.it"))
.errorMap {
println("Error: $it"); it
}
.successMap {
println("Success $it")
}
}

Now, appl allows you to follow the same order for validation of the parameters
in ::User . The only problem is a limitation of Kotlin that doesn’t allow you to
set the precedence between the operators, forcing you to use parentheses
before errorMap and successMap .

Run the previous code, and you’ll get:

Success User(id=1, name=Massimo, email=max@maxcarli.it)

The second problem gives you another opportunity to use a concept you
learned about in previous chapters: semigroups.

Applicative functors and semigroups

As mentioned, the previous code doesn’t allow you to get all the validation
errors, only the first. Open ValidationSemigroup.kt and add the following
code:

fun main() {
val userBuilder = ::User.curry()
val userApplicative = ResultAp.success(userBuilder)
val idAp = ResultAp.success(1)
(userApplicative appl
idAp appl
validateName("") appl // HERE
validateEmail("")) // HERE
.errorMap {
println("Error: $it"); it
}
.successMap {
println("Success $it")
}
}

Run this code, and you get:

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Error: com.raywenderlich.fp.validation.ValidationException: Invalid
email

This is correct, but you can do better. Both name and email are invalid, but
the error message has no mention of the former. You need to find a way to
somehow accumulate the errors into one. In Chapter 12, “Monoids &
Semigroups”, you learned that a monoid describes a way to combine two values
into a single value of the same type. You can represent the properties of a
monoid in different ways. For example, in ValidationSemigroup.kt, add the
following definition:

interface Semigroup<T> {
operator fun plus(rh: T): T
}

The Semigroup<T> interface here defines types with the plus operator. Now,
you can create a different type of ValidationException , which is also a
Semigroup , like this:

data class ValidationExceptionComposite( // 1

private val errors: List<ValidationException> // 2
) : Exception(), Semigroup<ValidationExceptionComposite> {

override fun plus(

rh: ValidationExceptionComposite
): ValidationExceptionComposite =
ValidationExceptionComposite(this.errors + rh.errors) // 3

override fun getLocalizedMessage(): String {

return errors.joinToString { it.localizedMessage } // 4
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Create ValidationExceptionComposite as a data class extending

Exception and implementing
Semigroup<ValidationExceptionComposite> .

2. Define errors as a variable containing all the ValidationException s you

want to combine.

3. Implement plus , creating a new ValidationExceptionComposite whose

errors are the union of the errors of the two operands.

4. Override getLocalizedMessage , composing all the localizedMessage s.

The next step now is to implement a version of ap , you call apsg , that handles
Semigroup s. In ValidationSemigroup.kt add the following code:

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fun <E, T, R> ResultAp<E, T>.apsg(

fn: ResultAp<E, (T) -> R>
): ResultAp<E, R> where E : Throwable, E : Semigroup<E> = // 1
when (fn) {
is Success<(T) -> R> -> successMap(fn.value)
is Error<E> -> when (this) {
is Success<T> -> Error(fn.error)
is Error<E> -> Error(this.error + fn.error) // 2
}
}

The main things to note here are:

1. The type parameter E has two upper bounds. It must be a Throwable and a
Semigroup<E> .

2. This is where the magic happens. Because E is a Semigroup<E> , you can

use the + operator to combine them. Here, you have the case when you
already have an error and you find a new one.

As you did previously for ap , you can provide an infix version by adding this
code:

infix fun <E, T, R> ResultAp<E, (T) -> R>.applsg(

a: ResultAp<E, T>
) where E : Throwable, E : Semigroup<E> = a.apsg(this)

To use the new ValidationExceptionComposite , you need to provide new

validation functions. Add the following:

fun validateNameSg(
name: String
): ResultAp<ValidationExceptionComposite, String> =
if (name.length > 4) {
Success(name)
} else {
Error(ValidationExceptionComposite(
listOf(ValidationException("Invalid name"))
))
}

fun validateEmailSg(
email: String
): ResultAp<ValidationExceptionComposite, String> =
if (email.contains("@")) {
Success(email)
} else {
Error(ValidationExceptionComposite(
listOf(ValidationException("Invalid email"))
))
}

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Note how you now use ValidationExceptionComposite , which contains a list
of ValidationException .

Finally, you can replace the main and use the new operators like this:

fun main() {
val userBuilder = ::User.curry()
val userApplicative = ResultAp.success(userBuilder)
val idAp = ResultAp.success(1)
(userApplicative applsg
idAp applsg
validateNameSg("") applsg
validateEmailSg(""))
.errorMap {
println(it.localizedMessage); it
}.successMap {
println("Success $it")
}
}

Run this code, and you’ll get:

Invalid email, Invalid name

Fix the email and run the code, getting:

Invalid name

Finally, fix the name and run the code, getting:

Success User(id=1, name=Massimo, email=max@maxcarli.it)

This is how, using ResultAp<E, T> as a specialized version of Either<E, T>

and Semigroup s, you implemented a typeclass called applicative functor to
handle validation in a good, functional way.

The Kotlin Result<T> data type

As mentioned earlier, the Kotlin standard library has a Result<T> type that is
similar to ResultAp<E, T> , which you implemented earlier.

Note: If you want to learn all about the Result<T> API, the Kotlin Apprentice
book is the right place to go.

Looking at the source code for Result<T> , you’ll notice that it’s not

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implemented as a sealed class. Result<T> has a single parameter type T , but
the actual internal value has type Any? . This is because Result<T> handles
the Failure case, assigning an instance of the internal class Result.Failure
to value .

The goal here is to see if Result<T> is a functor first and then a monad.

Result<T> as a functor
To prove that Result<T> is a functor, you should verify the functor laws, and in
particular, that:

1. map id == id

2. map (f compose g) == (map f compose map g)

First, you see that Result<T> APIs have map with the following
implementation:

@InlineOnly
@SinceKotlin("1.3")
public inline fun <R, T> Result<T>.map(
transform: (value: T) -> R
): Result<R> {
contract {
callsInPlace(transform, InvocationKind.AT_MOST_ONCE)
}
return when {
isSuccess -> Result.success(transform(value as T))
else -> Result(value)
}
}

Removing the contract part and replacing transform with id , you get:

public inline fun <R, T> Result<T>.map(): Result<R> {

return when {
isSuccess -> Result.success(id(value))
else -> Result(value)
}
}

In the case of success, you get:

public inline fun <R, T> Result<T>.map(): Result<R> =

Result.success(id(value))

Because id(value) = value , you have:

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public inline fun <R, T> Result<T>.map(): Result<R> =
Result.success(value)

In the case of failure, you get:

public inline fun <R, T> Result<T>.map(): Result<R> =

Result(value)

Considering that the value in the case of failure is the Result.Failure instance
itself, this completes the proof of the first functor law.

Proving the second law can be more verbose, but you can actually make it
shorter by noting that the function transform you pass as a parameter is only
used in the case of success. If you have a success, Result<T> , and map a
function f first and then a function g , you’ll get the same value you’d get
map ping f compose g .

Another, more pragmatic and quick proof that Result<T> is a functor is the
presence of the map in the APIs. Looking at the same APIs, you can’t find a
flatMap function, which makes you wonder if the Result<T> data type is a
monad or not.

Result<T> as a monad
As mentioned at the end of the previous section, the Kotlin Result<T> data
type doesn’t have a flatMap . What happens, then, if you need to compose a
function of type (A) -> Result<B> with a function of type (B) ->
Result<C> ? Well, in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, you learned how to
handle this case with a generic data type M<A> . It’s time to do the same for
Result<T> .

Open ResultMonad.kt in result and add the following code:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, Result<B>>.fish( // 1

g: Fun<B, Result<C>>
): (A) -> Result<C> =
{ a: A ->
this(a).bind(g)
}

infix fun <B, C> Result<B>.bind( // 2

g: Fun<B, Result<C>>
): Result<C> =
map(g).flatten()

In this code, you simply replaced M<T> with Result<T> in the definition of the
operators:

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1. fish

2. bind

To do this, you need to implement flatten like the following:

fun <A> Result<Result<A>>.flatten(): Result<A> = // 1

if (isSuccess) {
getOrNull()!! // 2
} else {
Result.failure(exceptionOrNull()!!) // 3
}

Here, you:

1. Define flatten as an external function of Result<Result<A>> with

Result<A> as the return type.

2. Return its value in the case of success. Note that the value of
Result<Result<A>> has type Result<A> .

3. Return what you get from Result::failure , passing the exception in the
case of failure.

Now, you can add the following code to the same file:

fun <A> Result<A>.lift(value: A): Result<A> = // 1

Result.success(value)

fun <A, B> Result<A>.flatMap(fn: Fun<A, Result<B>>): Result<B> =

map(::lift fish fn).flatten() // 2

Here, you define:

1. lift , which is basically Result::success with a different name.

2. flatMap using fish , lift and flatten .

Now, you have all you need to implement ShowSearchService with

Result<T> , as you did with Optional<T> , Either<E, T> and ResultAp<E,
T> .

Using Result<T> as a monad

Open ShowSearchService.kt in result and add the following code:

fun fetchTvShowResult(query: String): Result<String> = try {

Result.success(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query)) // 1
} catch (ioe: IOException) {

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Result.failure(ioe) // 2
}

fun parseTvShowResult(json: String): Result<List<ScoredShow>> =

try {
Result.success(TvShowParser.parse(json /* +"sabotage" */)) // 1
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
Result.failure(e) // 2
}

This code should be very familiar to you now. Here, you:

1. Use Result::success to create the Result<T> to return in the case of

success, encapsulating the result. Note that in fetchTvShowResult , there is
a commented “sabotage” String you can uncomment to simulate a failure
in the parsing of the JSON in input.
2. Use Result::failure to create the Result<T> to return in the case of
failure. In this case, you encapsulate the exception as a Throwable .

As the next step, add the following code:

fun fetchAndParseTvShowResult(query: String) =

fetchTvShowResult(query) // 1
.flatMap(::parseTvShowResult) // 2

Here, you:

1. Invoke fetchTvShowResult , getting a Result<String> as a result.

2. Use flatMap passing parseTvShowResult as parameter.

Finally, add the following code:

fun main() {
fetchAndParseTvShowResult("Big Bang Theory")
.fold(onFailure = {
println("Error: $it")
}, onSuccess = {
println("Result: $it")
})
}

Run main , and you’ll get something like the following:

Result: [ScoredShow(score=1.2637222, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big

Bang Theory, genres=[Comedy],
url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/o
riginal_untouched/173/433868.jpg,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>...</p>, language=English))]

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As you did before, run again with your computer disconnected from the
network, getting:

Error: java.net.UnknownHostException: api.tvmaze.com

Now, reconnect your computer and uncomment the “sabotage” String in

parseTvShowResult that’s making the function fail. This time, you’ll get:

Error: kotlinx.serialization.json.internal.JsonDecodingException:
Unexpected JSON token at offset 1589: Expected EOF after parsing,
but had s instead
JSON input: .....ze.com/episodes/1646220}}}}]sabotage

Now, the Kotlin Result<T> data type is also a monad. :]

Meet the RayTV app

In the first part of the chapter, you learned how to handle exceptions in a
functional way. You implemented two functions for fetching and parsing some
data about TV shows using APIs provided by TVmaze.

Using Android Studio, open the RayTV project in the material for this chapter.
When you run the project, after the splash screen, you’ll get what’s in Figure
14.4:

Figure 14.4: RayTV app

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Enter some text in the TextField at the top of the screen, and you’ll get some
results like the following:

Figure 14.5: TV show search results

When you select a TV show from the list, you see its details, as in Figure 14.6:

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Figure 14.6: TV show details

You’ll play with the RayTV app more in the following chapters. In this case, it’s
interesting to look at how it handles errors.

Open ShowSearchService.kt in tools.api and look at the following code:

fun fetchTvShowResult(query: String): Result<String> =

try {
Result.success(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query))
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
Result.failure(ioe)
}

fun parseTvShowResult(json: String): Result<List<ScoredShow>> =

try {
Result.success(TvShowParser.parse(json /* +"sabotage" */))
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
Result.failure(e)
}

fun fetchAndParseTvShowResult(query: String) =

fetchTvShowResult(query)
.flatMap(::parseTvShowResult)

These are the same functions you implemented in the first part of the chapter.

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What’s more interesting is how the app uses them.

Open SearchViewModel.kt in ui.screen.search and look at the following code:

@HiltViewModel
class SearchViewModel @Inject constructor() : ViewModel() {

var searchState = mutableStateOf<SearchState>(NoSearchDone) // 1

private set

private var currentJob: Job? = null

fun findShow(showName: String) {

currentJob?.cancel()
currentJob = viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
searchState.value = SearchRunning // 1
fetchAndParseTvShowResult(showName) // 2
.fold(onFailure = { // 3
searchState.value = FailureSearchResult(it)
}, onSuccess = { // 4
if (!it.isEmpty()) {
searchState.value = SuccessSearchResult(it)
} else {
searchState.value = NoSearchResult // 5
}
})
}
}
}

Besides some code related to the use of Jetpack Compose, Coroutines and Hilt,
you can note the following:

1. The initial state is NoSearchDone and becomes SearchRunning every time

you start a new search.
2. Every time you call findShow , you invoke fetchAndParseTvShowResult ,
passing the String to search.

3. You use fold and change the state to FailureSearchResult in the case of
failure, encapsulating the Throwable .
4. In the case of success, you set the state to SuccessSearchResult ,
encapsulating the result.
5. Here, you also use a special case if the query is successful but you don’t get
any result.

In SearchViewModel , you basically bind every specific Result to a different UI

state.

Note: If you want to learn everything you need to know about coroutines, the
Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials book is the right place to go. Jetpack Compose by

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 Chapter 14: Error Handling
Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials With Functional Programming
Tutorials is the best resource for learning how to create UI using Compose.
With Dagger by Tutorials, you’ll learn everything you need to know about
Dagger and Hilt. Finally, Real World Android by Tutorials will help you
understand the best way to put all these technologies together.

Now, open SearchComposable.kt in ui.screens.search and find the following

code:

// ...
ErrorAlert(errorMessage = {
stringResource(R.string.error_message)
}) {
result is FailureSearchResult
}
// ...

ErrorAlert is a Composable function you find in Util.kt in ui.screens. It

displays itself only if the current state is a FailureSearchResult .

To verify how it works, just enable the “sabotage” in parseTvShowResult in

ShowSearchService.kt or disconnect your machine and run the app. When
you try to search for a TV show, you’ll get what’s in Figure 14.7:

Figure 14.7: RayTV error message

Key points
Error handling is a fundamental part of any software application.
Many programming languages model errors using exceptions.

Exceptions are a classic example of side effects.

For exceptions, you can use the same process you used for other impure
functions: Make the side effect a part of the result type.

You can use Optional<T> and Either<E, T> to model functions throwing

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials With Functional Programming
exceptions.

Applicative functors and semigroups are useful in the case of multiple

validations.
The Kotlin standard library provides the Result<T> data type.
Result<T> is a functor but not a monad.

You can make Result<T> a monad by following the same process you used
in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you had the chance to apply all the principles
and concepts you learned in the first two parts of the book in a real example. In
the next chapter, you’ll learn everything you need to know about state.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

15 Managing State
Written by Massimo Carli

In Section II, you learned about the concept of data type using the analogy of a
container providing its content some context. For instance, Optional<A>
represents a box that can either be empty or contain a value of type A . The
context of a data type is important when you make it a functor or a monad. In
the case of a functor, you can apply to Optional<A> a function Fun<A, B> and
get an Optional<B> . If the initial Optional<A> is empty, you’ll get an empty
Optional<B> . If Optional<A> contains a value of type A , you apply the
function Fun<A, B> , to get a value of type B wrapped in an Optional<B> . If
the function you apply is of type Fun<A, Optional<B>> , you give Optional<A>
the superpower of a monad and use flatMap to get an Optional<B> whose
content depends on whether the value A is present. Different data types
provide different contexts and behave differently as functors and monads.

Note: An empty Optional<A> is different from an empty Optional<B> if A is

different from B . In short, an empty box of pears is different from an empty
box of apples. :]

You also learned that a pure function describes an expression that’s

referentially transparent and, more importantly, doesn’t have any side
effects. These two properties are connected because when an expression isn’t
referentially transparent, it uses some data that’s outside the scope of the
function, which is a side effect. A side effect changes the state of the universe
outside the function body.

The question now is: Can you create a data type representing a box that
encapsulates some data and the effect that happens when you apply functions
with map or flatMap to the same data? With this data type, you wouldn’t
prevent the change of some state, but you’d be able to control it.

The solution is the State<T> data type, which is the topic of this chapter. Here,
you’ll learn:

What StateTranformation<S, T> is.

How to implement a State<S, T> data type.

How the State<S, T> data type works as a functor.

How to implement State<T> as an applicative functor.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 15: Managing State
What the State<S, T> monad is.

How to apply the State<S, T> monad in a practical example.

This is probably one of those chapters you’ll need to read multiple times, but it’ll
definitely be worth it!

The problem
To describe how the State<S, T> data type works, it’s helpful to start with a
very simple example. You can follow along with it in the Inventory.kt file in the
material for this project. Start by adding this code:

data class Product(val id: String, val name: String)

This is a simple Product data class representing — ahem — a product. :] During

an inventory, you want to assign a SKU to it.

Note: A stock keeping unit (SKU) is a scannable bar code that you usually find
printed on product labels in retail stores. It’s used to track inventory
movement automatically.

In this case, suppose the SKU has the format RAY-PROD-#### , where ####
represents a four-digit number that must be unique for each product.

Note: Please ignore the fact that, with this format, you can only have 10,000
different SKUs. This just allows the code to remain simple so you can focus on
the state. Of course, you can implement your SKU generator algorithm
however you want.

You represent a product after the inventory as an instance of SkuProduct ,

which you add to the same file:

data class SkuProduct(val product: Product, val sku: String)

To assign a unique SKU to every product, use the following code:

var count = 0 // 1

fun createSku(): String = // 2

"RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", count++)}" // 3

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 15: Managing State
In this code, you:

1. Initialize the global variable count to 0 .

2. Define createSku as a function returning a unique SKU as a String .

3. Update count , allowing you to get a different SKU at each createSku

invocation.

To test the previous function, add and run the following code:

fun main() {
val prod1 = Product("1", "Cheese")
val prod2 = Product("2", "Bread")
val prod3 = Product("3", "Cake")

SkuProduct(prod1, createSku()) pipe ::println

SkuProduct(prod2, createSku()) pipe ::println
SkuProduct(prod3, createSku()) pipe ::println
}

Getting in output:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Cheese), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Bread), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)

Everything looks fine, but it’s actually not! Now that you know all about pure
functions and side effects, you surely noted that createSku isn’t pure — every
time you invoke it, you change the state of the universe that, in this case, you
represent with count .

At this point, you have two main goals:

Make createSku pure.

Simplify its usage in your inventory.

The first step is introducing the concept of state transformation.

State transformation
createSku is impure because of the side effect related to the count update,
which happens every time you invoke createSku . This creates the SKU based
on the current value of count , which is the current state. createSku also
updates the state, preparing for the next invocation. You can generalize this
behavior with the following definition, which you can add to State.kt:

typealias StateTransformer<S> = (S) -> S

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StateTransformer<S> is a function that, given the current state of type S ,

returns the new value for the state which has, of course, the same type. In the
case of the product inventory example, this function would be:

val skuStateTransformer: StateTransformer<Int> =

{ state -> state + 1 }

This is because you replaced S with Int , and the transformation consists of
adding 1 to the current state.

In your example, you need to use the state to create a new SKU and use
skuStateTransformer to update the state. A better abstraction to handle this
behavior is the following:

typealias StateTransformer<S, T> = (S) -> Pair<T, S>

Note: The different order for the type parameters S and T in the definition
and the returning Pair<T, S> might introduce some confusion. The
important thing is to be consistent in the code that follows.

This is the abstraction for all the functions receiving a state of type S as input,
and returning both a value of type T and the new state of type S . The
returned T might depend on the current state.

In this case, you rewrite skuStateTransformation like this:

val skuStateTransformer: StateTransformer<Int, String> = { state ->

"RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", state)}" to state + 1
}

Now, skuStateTransformer has type StateTransformer<Int, String> and

receives an Int as input, which is the current state, and returns the SKU based
on that state and the new state.

To see how this works, replace main with the following:

fun main() {
val prod1 = Product("1", "Cheese")
val prod2 = Product("2", "Bread")
val prod3 = Product("3", "Cake")

val state0 = 0 // 1
val (sku1, state1) = skuStateTransformer(state0) // 2

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 15: Managing State
SkuProduct(prod1, sku1) pipe ::println // 3
val (sku2, state2) = skuStateTransformer(state1) // 4
SkuProduct(prod2, sku2) pipe ::println // 5
val (sku3, state3) = skuStateTransformer(state2) // 6
SkuProduct(prod3, sku3) pipe ::println // 7
}

In this code, you:

1. Initialize the beginning state of state0 at 0 .

2. Invoke skuStateTransformer , passing the current value for the state,

state0 , and getting the SKU and the new state you save in sku1 and
state1 , respectively.

3. Use sku1 to create the SkuProduct for prod1 .

4. Invoke skuStateTransformer , passing the new state, state1 , and getting a

new SKU and the new state you save in sku2 and state2 , respectively.

5. Use sku2 to create the SkuProduct for prod2 .

6. Again, invoke skuStateTransformer with state2 .

7. Use sku3 to create the SkuProduct for prod3 , and so on…

Run this code, and you’ll get:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Cheese), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Bread), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)

Looking at this code, you can’t say you made everything easier to use. This is
because you have to:

1. Create an initial state.

2. Invoke the StateTransformer<S, T> to get a new state.

3. Pass the new state to another StateTransformer<S, T> to get the next state.

4. Keep going until you get all the type T values you need.

You should find a way to make all these “passing values” for the state automatic
and somehow hidden under the hood. This is what you’ll achieve in the
following paragraphs, and this is what the state monad is for.

A state transformer visual intuition

Before proceeding, there’s something you should fix. skuStateTransformer
receives an Int as input and returns a String for the SKU and another Int
for the new state. In the inventory problem, you need something else because

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you need to start from a Product and get a SkuProduct .

To do this, add the following definition to Inventory.kt:

val assignSku: (Product, Int) -> Pair<SkuProduct, Int> = // 1

{ product: Product, state ->
val newSku = "RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", state)}" // 2
SkuProduct(product, newSku) to state + 1 // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define assignSku as a function of two input parameters of types Product
and Int , respectively, and a Pair<SkuProduct, Int> as output.

2. Create the SKU using the current state .

3. Return the SkuProduct and the new state.

In the first section of the book, you learned a magic trick called currying. It
allows you to convert any function with multiple input parameters into a chain
of functions with a single input parameter. If you apply curry to assignSku ,
you get a function of type (Product) -> (Int) -> Pair<SkuProduct, Int> .
Look at the second part of this function type, and you’ll recognize the (Int) ->
Pair<SkuProduct, Int> type, which is the same as StateTransformer<Int,
SkuProduct> . To make everything explicit, you can say that assignSku has
type (Product) -> StateTransformer<Int, SkuProduct> .

To prove this, add the following code in Inventory.kt, and see that it compiles:

val curriedAssignSku:
(Product) -> StateTransformer<Int, SkuProduct> =
assignSku.curry()

Note: curry and other higher-order functions you implemented in the

previous chapters are already available in the lib sub-package of the project
in the material.

At this point, a visual representation of assignSku can be helpful. Look at

Figure 15.1:

Product SkuProduct

assignSku
Int Int

(state) (new state)

Figure 15.1: State transformer

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials Chapter 15: Managing State

You can see that assignSku has a visible part that maps a Product into a
SkuProduct and an invisible one that’s responsible for updating the state.

What you want to achieve is a way to implement (Product) -> SkuProduct

while keeping the state transformation hidden.

Now, replace the main with the following:

fun main() {
val prod1 = Product("1", "Cheese")
val prod2 = Product("2", "Bread")
val prod3 = Product("3", "Cake")

val state0 = 0
val (skuProd1, state1) = curriedAssignSku(prod1)(state0)
skuProd1 pipe ::println
val (skuProd2, state2) = curriedAssignSku(prod2)(state1)
skuProd2 pipe ::println
val (skuProd3, state3) = curriedAssignSku(prod3)(state2)
skuProd3 pipe ::println
}

Run the code, and you’ll get:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Cheese), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Bread), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)

You can already see some minor improvements, but you still want to remove the
need to pass the current state.

Introducing the State<S, T> data type

The StateTransformer<T, S> type you defined earlier is a function type. What
you need now is a data type so you can apply all the typeclasses; like functor,
applicative and monad; you applied for Optional<T> , Either<A, B> or
Result<T> . To do this, you just need to add the following code to the State.kt
file:

data class State<S, T>(val st: StateTransformer<S, T>)

If you want to think of this in terms of containers again, you can look at the

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State<S, T> as a box whose context is about the encapsulation of a
StateTransformer<S, T> that describes how the state changes at every action
you do through the box itself.

To make things a little bit easier and remove the effort due to the definition of
the State<S, T> data type, add the following code:

operator fun <S, T> State<S, T>.invoke(state: S) = st(state)

In this case, you can start from a State<S, T> and use the invoke function or
the () , pass the current state, and apply to it the StateTransformer<S, T> it
encapsulates. Just remember that the type for invoke is (State<S, T>) ->
(S) -> Pair<T, S> .

Now that you have the State<S, T> data type, you need to add some magic
starting from lift up to the monadic superpower. Now, the real fun starts. :]

Implementing lift
The first operation you need to implement is lift , also called return in
other languages. This is the function you use to get a value of type T and put it
into the box related to the specific data type, in this case, State<S, T> . In
State.kt, change the State<S, T> definition like this:

data class State<S, T>(

val st: StateTransformer<S, T>
) {

companion object { // 1
@JvmStatic
fun <S, T> lift(
value: T // 2
): State<S, T> = // 3
State({ state -> value to state }) // 4
}
}

In this code, you implement lift :

1. Using a companion object as a common pattern.

2. With an input parameter of type T .

3. Returning a State<S, T> .

4. Creating the State<S, T> using a StateTransformer<S, T> that simply

keeps the state the same and returns the input value as a result.

With lift , you can start from a simple value and get a State<S, T> for it, like

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this:

fun main() {
val initialState = State.lift<Int, Product>(Product("1",
"Cheese"))
}

Just note how you need to help the Kotlin type inference by providing the type
for the input type parameters S and T . This is because Kotlin infers T ‘s type
from the value you pass, but it can’t understand S ’s type on its own.

State<S, T> as a functor

After lift , it’s time to make State<S, T> a functor. This means providing an
implementation of the map function of type (State<S, A>) -> (Fun<A, B>) -
> (State<S, B>) .

Before writing the code, take some time to think about what it means for a
State<S, A> to be a functor. You start with a value of type A and, using map ,
you apply a function of type Fun<A, B> , getting a value of type B . The
State<S, A> needs to handle the state update. To understand how it works,
add the following code to the StateFunctor.kt file:

fun <S, A, B> State<S, A>.map( // 1

fn: Fun<A, B> // 2
): State<S, B> = // 3
State { state -> // 4
val (a, newState) = this(state) // 5
fn(a) to newState // 6
}

In this code, you:

1. Define map as an extension function for the type State<S, A> .

2. Have a function of type Fun<A, B> as an input parameter.

3. Return a value of type State<S, B> according to the concept of functors.

4. Create an instance of State<S, B> , passing in a lambda with an input

parameter state of type S . Note how you can omit the () because the
only parameter, and also the last, is a lambda expression.

5. To get the new state and the value of type A , you need to invoke the state
transformer of type StateTransformer<S, A> encapsulated in the receiver.
Remember that you can do this because you defined the invoke operator
on the State<S, T> type above. Another option would be simply to invoke
st(state) .

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6. Invoke the input parameter fn , passing the value of type A you got in the
previous step, and get the value you return along with the new state.

In the previous code, it’s essential to understand that the new state you get with
State<S, B> is the same as what you get with the initial State<S, A> . The
difference is that the value of type B in State<S, B> is the one you get
applying Fun<A, B> to the value of type A in State<S, A> .

As an example, add the following code to StateFunctor.kt:

val skuSerial = { sku: String -> sku.takeLast(4) } // 1

val skuState: State<Int, String> = State { state: Int -> // 2

"RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", state)}" to state + 1
}

val skuSerialState = skuState.map(skuSerial) // 3

fun main() { // 4
skuState(0) pipe ::println
skuSerialState(0) pipe ::println
}

Here, you define:

1. skuSerial , which has the type Fun<String, String> and returns the last
4 characters of the input String .

2. skuState as the State<Int, String> for the generation of the SKUs.

3. skuSerialState as the State<Int, String> you get from skuState

passing skuSerial as an argument of map .

4. main that prints the result of skuState and skuSerialState passing the
same value as the initial state.

When you run the code, you’ll get:

(RAY-PROD-0000, 1)
(0000, 1)

As you see, the new state is the same, but skuSerial has been applied to the
value of type String .

State<S, T> as an applicative functor

Looking at the signature of map for the State<S, A> , notice that it accepts a
function of type Fun<A, B> as input. As you know, Fun<A, B> is the type of
function with a single input parameter of type A returning a value of type B .

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It’s interesting, now, to generalize map as accepting functions with multiple

input parameters. For instance, in the Curry.kt file in lib, you find the following
code:

typealias Fun2<T1, T2, R> = (T1, T2) -> R

typealias Fun3<T1, T2, T3, R> = (T1, T2, T3) -> R
typealias Fun4<T1, T2, T3, T4, R> = (T1, T2, T3, T4) -> R

Using curry , you know they’re equivalent to the following types:

typealias Chain2<T1, T2, R> = (T1) -> (T2) -> R

typealias Chain3<T1, T2, T3, R> = (T1) -> (T2) -> (T3) -> R
typealias Chain4<T1, T2, T3, T4, R> =
(T1) -> (T2) -> (T3) -> (T4) -> R

Note: In the previous code, you considered up to four input parameters, but,
of course, you could consider all the cases up to N.

If you want to generalize map for functions of different input parameters, you
could just provide an implementation of map for each of those. For instance, in
the case of Fun2<A, B, C> , you could define the following:

fun <S, A, B, C> State<S, Pair<A, B>>.map2(

fn: Fun2<A, B, C>
): State<S, C> =
State { state ->
val (pair, newState) = this(state) // Or st(state)
val value = fn(pair.first, pair.second)
value to newState
}

Replace Fun2<A, B, C> with Chain2<A, B, C> , and you get:

fun <S, A, B, C> State<S, Pair<A, B>>.map2(

fn: Chain2<A, B, C> // 1
): State<S, C> =
State { state ->
val (pair, newState) = this(state) // Or st(state)
val value = fn(pair.first)(pair.second) // 2
value to newState
}

Here, you:

1. Use Chain2<A, B, C> in place of Fun2<A, B, C> .

2. Get the value to return with fn(pair.first)(pair.second) instead of

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passing the two parameters together, like fn(pair.first, pair.second) .

With Fun2<A, B, C> , this isn’t a problem, but imagine if you had to implement
all these map versions for all the possible options. This would be very tedious.
Fortunately, this is the case where the applicative functor typeclass comes into
play. Similar to what you saw in Chapter 14, “Error Handling With Functional
Programming”, to define all possible map s for all the possible functions with
multiple parameters, you just need two basic functions you’ve already met. The
first is your lift that, in the context of an applicative functor, is called pure .
The second is the ap function that, in the context of the State<S, T> data
type, has the following signature:

fun <S, T, R> State<S, T>.ap(

fn: State<S, (T) -> R>
): State<S, R> {
// TODO
}

As you can see, ap is an extension function for the type State<S, T> and
accepts in input a State<S, (T) -> R> where the value is actually a function
from T to R . The result, then, is a State<S, R> .

Before implementing its body, it’s interesting to see how you can use ap to
handle functions of multiple parameters. You do this using the applicative
style.

Suppose you want to apply a function with three parameters of type Fun3<A, B,
C, R> , which is equivalent to a Chain<A, B, C, R> typealias of (A) -> (B) -
> (C) -> R . As a simple example, add the following code to
StateApplicative.kt:

fun replaceSuffix(
input: String,
lastToRemove: Int,
postfix: String
) = input.dropLast(lastToRemove) + postfix

This is a basic function of three parameters that removes the lastToRemove

characters from an input String , replacing them with postfix . It has the
type Fun3<String, Int, String, String> .

You can make it of type Chain<String, Int, String, String> using curry ,
like this:

val cReplaceSuffix = ::replaceSuffix.curry()

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To use the applicative style, add the following code:

infix fun <S, A, B> State<S, (A) -> B>.appl(a: State<S, A>) =
a.ap(this) // 1

fun main() {
val initialStateApp = State
.lift<Int, Chain3<String, Int, String, String>>(
cReplaceSuffix
) // 2
val inputApp = State.lift<Int, String>("1234567890") // 3
val lastToRemoveApp = State.lift<Int, Int>(4) // 3
val postfixApp = State.lift<Int, String>("New") // 3
val finalStateApp = initialStateApp appl
inputApp appl lastToRemoveApp appl postfixApp // 4

inputApp(0) pipe ::println // 5

finalStateApp(0) pipe ::println // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Define appl for State<S, A> , the same way you did in Chapter 14, “Error
Handling With Functional Programming”, to make the code more readable.

2. Use lift to create State<Int, Chain3<String, Int, String, String>> ,

passing cReplaceSuffix .
3. Do the same for all the input parameters. Note how inputApp and
postfixApp have type State<Int, String> , and lastToRemoveApp has
type State<Int, Int> .
4. Using the infix operator appl , you apply the applicative style, which
remains associative. This means it works as if it were (((initialStateApp
appl inputApp) appl lastToRemoveApp) appl postfixApp) .

5. Print the initial and final values as output.

Of course, at the moment, you can’t run this code because you still need to
implement app .

Replace the previous skeleton with the following code:

fun <S, T, R> State<S, T>.ap( // 1

fn: State<S, (T) -> R> // 2
): State<S, R> = // 3
State { s0: S -> // 4
val (t, s1) = this(s0) // 5
val (fnValue, s2) = fn(s1) // 6
fnValue(t) to s2 // 7
}

In this code, you:

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1. Define ap as an extension function for State<S, T> .

2. Accept a parameter of type State<S, (T) -> R> as input. Note how the
value is a function of type (T) -> R .
3. Use State<S, R> as the return type.

4. Invoke the State<S, R> constructor, passing a lambda with the current
state s0 as the initial state.

5. Get the value of type T and the new state s1 , invoking the current receiver
with the initial state.

6. Use the new state s1 as input for fn to get the value of type (T) -> R and
the final state s2 .
7. Get the final result, invoking fn on the value of type T you got in Step 5
and using the final state s2 .

Note how you get the values from the current receiver first and then from the
input State<S, (T) -> R> . Also, note how the state updates twice. The first
update is based on the current receiver of type State<S, T> , and the second is
because of the one of input State<S, (T) -> R> .

Now, you can finally run main , getting:

(1234567890, 0)
(123456New, 0)

As you can see, you applied replaceSuffix to the input String , but the value
for the state of type Int remained the same. This is actually expected because
this works exactly like the functor. It just gives you the chance to apply
functions with multiple parameters to the value of type T in State<S, T> ,
leaving the state unchanged.

State<S, T> as a monad

Now, it’s finally time to give State<S, T> the power of a monad by
implementing flatMap . To do that, you could follow the same process you
learned in Chapter 13, “Understanding Monads”, providing implementation to
fish , bind , flatten and finally flatMap . That was a general process valid
for all monads, but now you can go straight to the solution, starting with the
following code you write in StateMonad.kt:

fun <S, A, B> State<S, A>.flatMap( // 1

fn: (A) -> State<S, B> // 2
): State<S, B> = TODO() // 3

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Here, you:

1. Define flatMap as an extension function for the State<S, A> data type.

2. Provide fn as an input parameter of type (A) -> State<S, B> .

3. Return a State<S, B> .

So, if the State<S, A> data type is a way to encapsulate some state and the
logic to update it, flatMap is the tool you use to compose a function of type
(A) -> State<S, B> coming from the Kleisli category.

You’ll probably be surprised at how simple the flatMap implementation is. Just
replace the previous definition with the following code:

fun <S, A, B> State<S, A>.flatMap(

fn: (A) -> State<S, B>
): State<S, B> =
State { s0: S -> // 1
val (a, s1) = this(s0) // 2
fn(a)(s1) // 3
}

Here, you:

1. Use the State<S, B> constructor, passing the state transformation as a

body. Of course, the state transformation has the initial state s0 as an input
parameter.
2. Invoke the receiver of type State<S, A> , passing the initial state. In this
way, you get the value a of type A and the new state s1 of type S .
Remember that the type for the state S never changes, but its value can.
3. Pass the value a as an input parameter of the function fn of type (A) ->
State<S, B> you have as input, getting a value of type State<S, B> . To get
the final Pair<B, S> , you need to invoke the State<S, B> with the state
s1 .

As a simple example of how to use State<S, T> as a monad, add the following
code to the same StateMonad.kt file:

val assignSkuWithState: // 1
(Product) -> State<Int, SkuProduct> =
{ prod: Product ->
State(curriedAssignSku(prod)) // 2
}

fun main() {
val prod1 = Product("1", "First Product") // 3
val initialState = State.lift<Int, Product>(prod1) // 4
val finalState = initialState.flatMap(assignSkuWithState) // 5
finalState(0) pipe ::println // 6
}
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In this code, you define a main , where you:

1. Implement assignSkuWithState as a function of type (Product) ->

State<Int, SkuProduct> responsible for assigning a new SKU to a Product
into a SkuProduct and updating the current state.

2. Implement assignSkuWithState , simply encapsulating the

StateTransformer<Int, SkuProduct> from the curriedAssignSku you
defined in Inventory.kt, into a State<Int, SkuProduct> .

3. Define a simple Product you use as an input parameter.

4. Use lift to define the State<Int, Product> from the value prod1 of
type Product . This is the initial state, initialState .

5. Invoke flatMap , passing the reference to assignSku . This is where the

composition magic happens, and you get a State<Int, SkuProduct> that
you save in finalState .

6. Invoke finalState , passing the initial state value 0 , and send the result to
the standard output.

Run the code, and you’ll get:

(SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=First Product), sku=RAY-

PROD-0000), 1)

The initial value for the state was 0 , and this is the one assignSku used to
generate the SKU RAY-PROD-0000 . The new value for the state is 1 . This is
because lift doesn’t apply the state transformation but returns a value for
the state that’s the same value you have in input.

A practical example
In the previous example, you didn’t have the chance to appreciate the hidden
state transformation that the State<S, T> monad does for you behind the
scenes. As a more complicated example, suppose you have an FList<Product> ,
and you want to assign each one a unique value for the SKU, getting an
FList<SkuProduct> as output.

Open StateMonadInventory.kt, and add the following code:

val products = FList.of(

Product("1", "Eggs"),
Product("2", "Flour"),

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Product("3", "Cake"),
Product("4", "Pizza"),
Product("5", "Water")
)

This is a simple FList<Product> with some dummy data, and you want to get
an FList<SkuProduct> , assigning each one a unique SKU value.

A possible solution implies the use of the map function, like this:

var currentCount = 0
fun inventoryMap(products: FList<Product>): FList<SkuProduct> {
return products.map {
SkuProduct(it,
"RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", currentCount++)}")
}
}

To see how this works, run the following code:

fun main() {
inventoryMap(products).forEach(::println)
}

Getting:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Eggs), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Flour), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=4, name=Pizza), sku=RAY-PROD-0003)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=5, name=Water), sku=RAY-PROD-0004)

But, there’s a but! inventoryMap isn’t pure because it uses and changes
currentCount , which is part of the external world. A possible solution could be
to move currentCount inside inventoryMap , like this:

fun inventoryMapWithCount(
products: FList<Product>
): FList<SkuProduct> {
var internalCount = 0
return products.map {
SkuProduct(it,
"RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", internalCount++)}")
}
}

The output would be the same. internalCount now has the scope
inventoryMapWithCount , and it’s not considered as a side effect. The problem
now is that internalCount starts from 0 every time you invoke

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inventoryMapWithCount , so it’ll produce duplicated SKUs.

In this chapter, you learned that a possible solution is to add the current state as
part of the input parameter and define a listInventoryHelper function, like
the following:

fun listInventory(
products: FList<Product>
): (Int) -> Pair<Int, FList<SkuProduct>> =
when (products) { // 1
is Nil -> { count: Int -> count to Nil } // 2
is FCons<Product> -> { count: Int -> // 3
val (newState, tailInventory) =
listInventory(products.tail)(count)
val sku = "RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", newState)}"
newState + 1 to FCons(
SkuProduct(products.head, sku), tailInventory)
}
}

In this code:

1. You check if the current product is empty or an FCons<Product> .

2. If it’s empty, you get a Nil , and you just need to return it along with the
current unchanged state.

3. If you have an FCons<Product> , you need to handle the head first, getting a
SKU and creating the related SkuProduct . For the tail, you just need to
invoke listInventory recursively.

To test the code, run:

fun main() {
listInventory(products)(0).second.forEach(::println)
}

Getting:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Eggs), sku=RAY-PROD-0004)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Flour), sku=RAY-PROD-0003)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=4, name=Pizza), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=5, name=Water), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

This approach works, but you can improve it. The main issues are:

1. The SKUs are assigned in reverse order. This might not be a problem as long
as they’re unique.

2. You need to handle the internal state explicitly. This is error-prone and

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might lead to errors that are difficult to debug.

Fortunately, the State<S, T> monad helps. To understand how, you need to
create a utility function first. Add the following code to State.kt:

fun <S, A, B, C> State<S, A>.zip( // 1

s2: State<S, B>, // 2
combine: (A, B) -> C // 3
): State<S, C> = // 4
State { s0 -> // 5
val (v1, s1) = this(s0) // 6
val (v2, s2) = s2(s1) // 7
combine(v1, v2) to s2 // 8
}

In this code, you:

1. Define zip as an extension function of State<S, A> .

2. Declare a first input parameter of type State<S, B>, .

3. Use the second input parameter, combine of type (A, B) -> C .

4. Return a State<S, C> whose value is the value of type C you get by
invoking combine on the values of types A and B .
5. Create the result, invoking the State<S, C> constructor.

6. Invoke the receiver with the initial state, getting the value of type A and the
new state.
7. Use the new state to get the value of type B and an updated version of the
state.

8. Get the value of type C , invoking combine , and return the result along with
the last version of the state.

Now, you can finally add the following code to StateMonadInventory.kt:

val addSku: (Product) -> State<Int, SkuProduct> = // 1

{ prod: Product ->
State<Int, SkuProduct> { state: Int ->
val newSku = "RAY-PROD-${String.format("%04d", state)}"
SkuProduct(prod, newSku) to state + 1
}
}

fun inventory(
list: FList<Product>
): State<Int, FList<SkuProduct>> = // 2
when (list) { // 3
is Nil -> State.lift(Nil) // 4
is FCons<Product> -> {
val head = State.lift<Int, Product>(list.head) // 5
.flatMap(addSku)

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val tail = inventory(list.tail) // 6
head.zip(tail) { a: SkuProduct, b: FList<SkuProduct> -> // 7
FCons(a, b)
}
}
}

Here, you:

1. First, define addSku , which returns a State<Int, SkuProduct> given a

Product as input.

2. Define inventory as a function accepting an FList<Product> as input and

returning a State<Int, FList<SkuProduct>> as output.

3. Check if the current FList<Product> is a Nil or FCons<Product> .

4. If it’s a Nil , you just return the same encapsulated into a State<Int,
FList<SkuProduct>> using lift .

5. If it’s an FCons<Product> , you handle the head first. First, you use lift to
get a State<Int, Product> , and then use flatMap with addSku to get a
State<Int, SkuProduct> .

6. Invoke inventory recursively on the tail to get the related state of type
State<Int, FList<SkuProduct>> .

7. Use zip to combine the State<Int, FList<SkuProduct>> for the head and
the tail in a single FList you return as a result.

To test how this works, add and run the following code:

fun main() {
inventory(products)(0).first.forEach(::println)
}

Getting as output:

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=1, name=Eggs), sku=RAY-PROD-0000)

SkuProduct(product=Product(id=2, name=Flour), sku=RAY-PROD-0001)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=3, name=Cake), sku=RAY-PROD-0002)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=4, name=Pizza), sku=RAY-PROD-0003)
SkuProduct(product=Product(id=5, name=Water), sku=RAY-PROD-0004)

As you can see, now the SKUs have the right order, but, more importantly, all
the state management is handled entirely under the hood. In the last version of
inventory , you don’t pass over any state, and the code is completely
functional.

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Key points
A data type is like a container that provides some context to its content.

A state represents any value that can change.

You can use the concept of state to model the side effect of an impure
function.

The context of a data type impacts how you interact with its content when
applying some functions.

The State<S, T> data type encapsulates the concept of state transition.

StateTransformer<S, T> abstracts a value and a state update.

State<S, T> is a data type that encapsulates a StateTransformer<S, T> .

You can make State<S, T> a functor providing the implementation for
map .

map on a State<S, T> applies a function to the value of type T but leaves
the state unchanged.

Making State<S, T> an applicative functor allows you to apply functions

with multiple parameters.

You can make State<S, T> a monad, providing implementation for the
flatMap .

The State<S, T> allows you to define two different types of transactions.
The first, on the value, is visible. The second, on the state transition, is
hidden.

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! This is definitely one of the most challenging chapters of the
book. Using most of the concepts from the first two sections of the book, you
learned how to use the State<S, T> data type and how to implement lift ,
map , app , appl and flatMap . Finally, you applied the State<S, T> monad
to a real example, showing how it’s possible to keep the state transaction
hidden. The concept of side effects is one of the most important in functional
programming, and in the next chapter, you’ll learn even more about it.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

16 Handling Side Effects

Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 15, “Managing State”, you implemented the State<S, T> data type
and gave it the superpowers of a functor, applicative and monad. You learned
that State<S, T> describes the context of some state of type S that changes
based on some transformations you apply every time you interact with the value
of type T in it. Making the State<S, T> a monad means you can compose
different functions of type (A) -> State<S, B> . The State<S, B> data type is
just a way to encapsulate a StateTransformer<S, T> . This means you can
compose functions of type (A) -> StateTransformer<S, B> that’s basically a
function of type (A) -> (S) -> Pair<S, B> . If you use uncurry , this is
equivalent to a function of type Pair<A, S> -> Pair<S, B> .

Now, think about what an impure function is. It’s a function whose body is an
expression that is not referentially transparent because, when executed, it
changes the state of the world outside the function body. This means it has a
side effect, which breaks composition. But if a side effect is a change in the
state of the world, the question now is: Can you somehow represent the state of the
world as the type S you use in a State<S, T> and encapsulate the side effect as a
simple transformation? In other words, if you define the type World as
representing the current state of the world, can you use State<World, T> as a
data type that encapsulates any possible side effects?

The answer to this question is yes, and the specific data type is IO<T> .

In this chapter, you’ll learn:

How to implement Hello World in a pure, functional way.

What the IO<T> data type is.

How to use IO<T> to compose functions with side effects.

What monad comprehension is.

How to use IO<T> in a practical example.

How to use suspendable functions to solve basically the same problem

IO<T> wants to solve.

This is an essential chapter, and now it’s time to do some magic! :]

From State<S, T> to IO<T>

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Hello World is probably the most popular application to implement when

learning a new language. This is mainly because it’s very simple and allows you
to see how to execute some of the fundamental tasks in common between all
applications, like compilation, execution, debugging and so on.

The app you’ll implement here is a little bit different because it’ll allow you to
read a name from the standard input and then print a greeting message. Open
Greetings.kt in the material for this chapter, and write the following code:

fun main() {
print("What's your name? ") // 1
val name = Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine() // 2
print("Hello $name\n") // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Print a message asking the user their name.

2. Use Scanner to read the name you type as input and save it to name .
3. Use name to format and print a greeting message.

Feel free to run it, and, after entering your name, you’ll get an output like the
one in Figure 16.1:

Figure 16.1: Running the greetings app

Note: When you run the app, just put the cursor after the input message to
insert your name, as shown in Figure 16.1. Then, type your name and press
Enter.

The previous code works very well, but the expression in main is anything but
pure. Using Scanner , you read the name from the standard input. Using
print , you display the result on the standard output. They’re both side effects:
interaction with the rest of the world. So, how can you create the previous
program but handle side effects in a pure and functional way?

The introduction of this chapter already gave you a hint. What if you think of
the external world as a giant state you change when you read the name and
write the greeting message?

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You can follow this idea starting with the definition of a type you call World .
Add the following in the World.kt file:

typealias World = Unit

Here, you define World as a simple alias for the Unit type. At this point, how
you define the World type doesn’t really matter. You’ll see later if how you
define World really matters or not. In the same file, add the following:

typealias SideEffect = (World) -> World

This is interesting because you’re defining a SideEffect as any function from

an initial state of the World to, probably, a different state of the same World .
But here, something strange is happening. If you have a function of type
SideEffect able to capture the whole World in input and return a different
version of it, you’ve essentially eliminated the concept of a side effect because
everything happens in the context of that function. In this case, all the functions
would be pure.

To prove that you can modify the initial program as the composition of the
function, you use:

readName , which reads the name from the standard input.

printString , which prints a String to the standard output.

readName ’s type is (World) -> Pair<String, World> because it receives the

World in input and provides the String for the name and a new version of the
World in output. Add the following code to Greetings.kt:

val readName: (World) -> Pair<String, World> = { w: World ->

Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine() to World
}

printString ‘s type is a little more interesting. It’s (String, World) -> World
because it receives the String to print and the current World in input,
returning the new state for the World . In this case, you have two input
parameters, but you can apply curry , getting the type (String) -> (World) -
> World . With the previous definition of SideEffect , you can say that the type
of printString is (String) -> SideEffect . In this way, you make the
definition more explicit. Then, add the following code to the same Greetings.kt
file:

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val printString: (String) -> SideEffect = { str: String ->
{ a: World ->
print(str) to World
}
}

Note: As you’ll see later, a type like (String) -> SideEffect says something
crucial. It says that printString doesn’t execute a side effect but returns a
description of it. This is the main reason it’s a pure function now.

Now, test each of the previous functions by running the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
readName(World) pipe ::println // 1
printString("Hello Max \n")(World) pipe ::println // 2
}

In this code, you invoke:

1. readName , passing the current state of the World , printing in output the
name you read from the standard input.

2. printString with a name, and then the function of type (World) ->
World with the current state of the World .

After you insert the name in input, you’ll get the output in Figure 16.2:

Figure 16.2: Testing readName and printString

In the image, you can see:

1. An example of a String input.

2. The output of readName , which is a Pair<String, Unit> of the String in
input and the new state of the World you previously defined using Unit .

3. The output you get using print in printString .

4. The output of printString , which is again a Unit representing the new

state of the World .

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This is very interesting, but what you achieved now isn’t actually what you need.
You need a way to compose readName and printString as pure functions and get
an app that works like the initial one.

Pure greetings
To accomplish your goal, you basically need to create
askNameAndPrintGreetings , whose type is (World) -> World . The final state
of the world is the one where you asked for a name and printed a greeting
message.

Given readName and printString , you can add the following code to
Greetings.kt:

fun askNameAndPrintGreetings(): (World) -> World = // 1

{ w0: World -> // 2
val w1 = printString("What's your name? ")(w0) // 3
val (name, w2) = readName(w1) // 4
printString("Hello $name! \n")(w2) // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Define askNameAndPrintGreetings as a function of type (World) ->

World , which you can also refer to as SideEffect if you prefer.

2. Return a function with the input parameter w0 of type World . With w0 ,

you represent the initial state for the world.

3. Invoke printString , passing the message to ask the name along with the
current state of the world, w0 . Here, you get the new state of the world you
store in w1 .

4. Pass the current state of the world, w1 , as an input parameter for

readName , getting a Pair<String, World> . Using destructuring, you save
the String in name and the new state of the world in w2 .

5. Invoke printString , passing the greeting message to print along with the
state of the world, w2 , you got in the previous step. printString also
returns the final state of the world you use as the return value for
askNameAndPrintGreetings .

Test this code by running the following code:

fun main() {
askNameAndPrintGreetings()(World) pipe ::println
}

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Here, you invoke askNameAndPrintGreetings , passing the initial state of the
world in input. When the function completes, you send the output to println .

After you insert a String in input, you’ll get:

Figure 16.3: Running askNameAndPrintGreetings

Here, you:

1. Provide a String as input.

2. Print the greeting message.

3. Print the output for askNameAndPrintGreetings , which is the Unit you

used as the value representing the state of the world.

Besides the fact that askNameAndPrintGreetings works, you should also note
these other crucial points:

askNameAndPrintGreetings accepts the current state of the world as input

and provides a new one.

The code in askNameAndPrintGreetings ‘s body looks like it’s imperative.

You invoke printString , readName and printString again, one after the
other. This way of composing functions is called monad comprehension. It’s
the name for a programming idiom available in multiple languages, like
JavaScript, F#, Scala or Haskell. Monad comprehension describes a way to
compose sequential chains of actions in a style that feels natural for
programmers used to procedural languages.

At each step, you pass the current state of the world, getting the new state.
You’re not using World at all.

The last point is fundamental because it would be very useful to remove the
requirement of passing the world ahead. This problem is similar to the one
related to the State<S, T> monad you learned in Chapter 15, “Managing
State”.

Hiding the world

In Chapter 15, “Managing State”, you implemented the State<S, T> monad as
a data type encapsulating a StateTransformer<S, T> you defined like this:

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typealias StateTransformer<S, T> = (S) -> Pair<T, S>

Note: You find the State<S, T> definition in the State.kt file in the lib sub-
package in this chapter’s material.

Here, you can follow the same process, defining the WorldT type like this in the
World.kt file:

typealias WorldT<T> = (World) -> Pair<T, World>

Just be careful that T is a generic type parameter, but World is the actual type
you defined earlier as a simple type alias of Unit . If you now look at the
readName you defined in Greetings.kt, you can see that its type is exactly the
same as WorldT<String> . You can add the following definition without any
compilation errors in Greetings.kt:

val readNameT: WorldT<String> = readName

What about printString ? Just remember that its type is (String) -> (World)
-> World , which is basically equivalent to (String)-> WorldT<Unit> . This is a
little bit more complicated, because it requires a little change. In Greetings.kt,
add the following definition:

val printStringT: (String) -> WorldT<Unit> = { str: String ->

{ w: World ->
Unit to printString(str)(w)
}
}

Now, you need to solve a problem you’re used to: composition. You need to
compose printStringT with readNameT and printStringT again to
implement your beautiful Greetings program in a pure, functional way.

Before doing that, it’s useful to review the types of all the functions in play:

printStringT has the type (String) -> WorldT<Unit> , which is (String)

-> (World) -> Pair<Unit, World> .

readNameT has the type WorldT<String> , which is (World) ->

Pair<String, World> .

In the implementation for the Greetings app, you need to compose:

1. printStringT of type (String) -> WorldT<Unit> with

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2. readNameT of type WorldT<String> with

3. printStringT again.

One way to do that is the definition of a function — you temporarily define myOp
in World.kt with the following signature:

infix fun <A, B> WorldT<A>.myOp( // 1

fn: (A) -> WorldT<B> // 2
): WorldT<B> = TODO() // 3

Note: You’ll find out the best name for myOp later. You might already know! :]

Here, you define myOp :

1. As an infix extension function of the WorldT<A> type. Remember that this is

equivalent to having the receiver of type WorldT<A> as the first argument.

2. With an input parameter fn of type (A) -> WorldT<B> .

3. Returning a WorldT<B> .

This means that if you have a WorldT<A> and a function of type (B) ->
WorldT<B> , you can use the myOp operator and get a WorldT<B> .

To make all the types explicit, write its type like the following:

WorldT<A> // 1
-> (A) -> WorldT<B> // 2
-> WorldT<B> // 3

Remember that WorldT<A> is just an alias for the (World) -> Pair<A, World>
type, which allows you to rewrite the previous definition like the following:

(World) -> Pair<A, World> // 1

-> (A) -> (World) -> Pair<B, World> // 2
-> (World) -> Pair<B, World> // 3

Now, look at 2. Remember that uncurry is a higher-order function that allows

you to start with a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C and get an equivalent
function of type (A, B) -> C . If you consider the equivalence between a
function of two input parameters of type A and B , and a Pair<A, B> , you
can write:

(World) -> Pair<A, World> // 1

-> (Pair<A, World>) -> Pair<B, World> // 2
-> (World) -> Pair<B, World> // 3

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This means you can compose the WorldT<A> in 1 with the uncurried version of
fn at 2. This allows you to write the implementation of myOp like the
following, which you should write in World.kt:

infix fun <A, B> WorldT<A>.myOp(

fn: (A) -> WorldT<B>
): WorldT<B> = this compose fn.uncurryP()

Note how you need to use uncurryP , a function you find in Curry.kt in the lib
sub-package of this chapter’s material. It uses Pair<A, B> as input in place of
two parameters of types A and B , respectively.

fun <T1, T2, R> ((T1) -> (T2) -> R).uncurryP():

Fun<Pair<T1, T2>, R> = { p: Pair<T1, T2> ->
this(p.first)(p.second)
}

Now, it’s time to use it.

A hidden greeting
The first implementation of askNameAndPrintGreetings you created forced
you to carry the world on at each step.

fun askNameAndPrintGreetings(): (World) -> World =

{ w0: World ->
val w1 = printString("What's your name? ")(w0)
val (name, w2) = readName(w1)
printString("Hello $name! \n")(w2)
}

Now it’s time to get rid of the world — wow! — and implement
askNameAndPrintGreetingsT , like the following you can write in Greetings.kt:

fun askNameAndPrintGreetingsT(): WorldT<Unit> = // 1

printStringT("What's your name? ") myOp { _ -> // 2
readNameT myOp { name -> // 3
printStringT("Hello $name! \n") // 4
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define askNameAndPrintGreetingsT as a function returning a

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WorldT<Unit> , which is basically the world transformation encapsulating
Unit as a value.

2. Invoke printStringT for printing a message. Remember that this returns a

WorldT<Unit> . Using myOp , you compose printStringT with a lambda
function that ignores the input parameter, which is of type Unit .

3. Use readNameT , which returns a WorldT<String> . To access the String it

returns, you use myOp to compose readNameT with a function you define
using a lambda expression with name in input.

4. Finally, use name to print the greetings using printStringT .

If you don’t believe this works, just add this to Greetings.kt:

fun main() {
askNameAndPrintGreetingsT()(World) pipe ::println
}

Here, you just invoke askNameAndPrintGreetingsT , getting the value of type

World<Unit> you then use, passing World as a parameter. You’ll get an output
similar to the one you saw earlier:

Figure 16.4: Running askNameAndPrintGreetings

Here, you:

1. Enter your name after the “What’s your name?” message.

2. Get the greeting in output.

3. See the output of askNameAndPrintGreetingsT , which is a Pair<Unit,
World> . You get the double Unit because you represented World as Unit
at the beginning of the chapter.

As you can see, you’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news
is that the World is now hidden. In the askNameAndPrintGreetingsT body, you
don’t have to receive any World and pass it on to the following methods.

The bad news is that you probably don’t want to indent the code using all those
{} and create many lambdas as arguments of myOp .

Don’t worry. In the previous code, you definitely saw a lot of what you learned in
Chapter 15, “Managing State”. It’s now time to follow the same process and

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define the IO<T> monad.

The IO<T> monad

So far, you’ve worked with WorldT<T> , which is an abstraction representing a
World transformation. This World transformation is basically a side effect.
It’s not so different from StateTransformer<S, T> when you replace S with
the type World .

Now, you need to:

1. Encapsulate WorldT<T> into a data type you’ll call IO<T> .

2. Implement lift to encapsulate any WorldT<T> into an IO<T> .

3. Give IO<T> the power of a functor.

4. Extend IO<T> with the power of a functor applicative.

5. Give IO<T> the superpower of a monad.

6. Finally, you’ll use IO<T> to solve the indentation problem you got with
askNameAndPrintGreetingsT , implementing a sort of monad
comprehension.

If you follow the same process you did for State<S, T> , replacing S with
World , the first five points are simple. You could do them as an exercise or just
follow along. :]

The IO<T> data type

In the lib sub-package in this chapter’s material, you find all the files related to
the State<S, T> monad. In State.kt, you find the following definition:

data class State<S, T>(

val st: StateTransformer<S, T>
)

In the case of IO<T> , you just know that S in State<S, T> is the type World
and that instead of StateTransformer<S, T> , you have WorldT<T> .

Knowing how these types relate to each other, open IO.kt and add the following
definition:

data class IO<T>(val wt: WorldT<T>)

Congratulations! You just created the IO<T> data type. As you’ll see, it’s very

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simple and powerful. Now, it’s time to add even more power, starting with the
implementation of lift .

Implementing lift
As you know, lift is the function that allows you to get, in this case, an
IO<T> from a WorldT<T> . Depending on the context, you might find the same
function with a name like return or pure . Anyway, following the same
approach you saw in the previous section, you implement it by replacing the
existing code in IO.kt with the following:

data class IO<T>(val wt: WorldT<T>) {

companion object { // 1
@JvmStatic
fun <S, T> lift(
value: T // 2
): IO<T> = // 3
IO { w -> value to w } // 4
}
}

Here, you:

1. Implement lift as a static function in a companion object .

2. Define T as the input parameter type.

3. Set IO<T> as the type for the output.

4. Create the IO<T> using the default constructor, passing a lambda of type
WorldT<T> that simply returns a Pair<T, World> in output.

To make the previous code simpler, the same way you did for State<S, T> , add
the following code:

operator fun <T> IO<T>.invoke(w: World) = wt(w)

This allows you to apply the WorldT<T> transformation in IO<T> using the
() operator directly.

IO<T> as a functor
The next step is to give IO<T> the power of a functor and provide an
implementation of map . This is usually very easy, and this case is no different.
Open IO.kt, and add the following code:

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fun <A, B> IO<A>.map(
fn: Fun<A, B>
): IO<B> =
IO { w0 ->
val (a, w1) = this(w0) // Or wt(w0)
fn(a) to w1
}

This is the classic implementation of map as an extension function of IO<A>

accepting a Fun<A, B> as input and returning an IO<B> as output.

IO<T> as an applicative functor

Applicative functors are useful when you want to apply functions with multiple
parameters. In the same IO.kt, add the following code:

fun <T, R> IO<T>.ap(

fn: IO<(T) -> R>
): IO<R> =
IO { w0: World ->
val (t, w1) = this(w0)
val (fnValue, w2) = fn(w1)
fnValue(t) to w2
}

You also add the infix version with this:

infix fun <A, B> IO<(A) -> B>.appl(a: IO<A>) = a.ap(this)

Again, you just started from the same functions for State<S, T> , replaced
State with IO and removed S . In the implementation, you used wn instead
of sn to represent the n-th state of the world.

IO<T> as a monad
Finally, you want to give IO<T> the superpower of a monad, adding the
implementation of flatMap like this to IO.kt:

fun <A, B> IO<A>.flatMap(

fn: (A) -> IO<B>
): IO<B> =
IO { w0: World ->
val (a, w1) = this(w0)
fn(a)(w1)
}

But, hey! You’ve seen this already, right? Earlier, you implemented myOp like
this:

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infix fun <A, B> WorldT<A>.myOp(

fn: (A) -> WorldT<B>
): WorldT<B> = this compose fn.uncurryP()

Besides the fact that myOp is an extension function for WorldT<T> and
flatMap for IO<A> , they both accept a function that reminds you of the Kleisli
category.

The former accepts a function of type (A) -> WorldT<B> and the latter one of
type (A) -> IO<B> . Yeah, they represent the same concept!

But how can you use all this magic? With a monadic greeting, of course!

Monadic greetings
In the previous sections, you implemented askNameAndPrintGreetingsT like
this:

fun askNameAndPrintGreetingsT(): WorldT<Unit> =

printStringT("What's your name? ") myOp { _ ->
readNameT myOp { name ->
printStringT("Hello $name! \n")
}
}

Using printStringT and readNameT , you implemented as:

val readName: (World) -> Pair<String, World> = { w: World ->

Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine() to World
}

val readNameT: WorldT<String> = readName

val printStringT: (String) -> WorldT<Unit> = { str: String ->

{ w: World ->
Unit to printString(str)(w)
}
}

In this code, note how readNameT is just an alias for readName you used to
make its type, WorldT<String> , explicit. In any case, now you need to work
with IO<T> . To do this, write the following code in IOGreetings.kt:

val readNameM: IO<String> = IO(readNameT) // 1

val printStringM: (String) -> IO<Unit> =

printStringT compose ::IO // 2

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In this code, you define:

1. readNameM as a monadic version of readNameT you get just by

encapsulating it into an IO<String> .

2. printStringM as a function accepting a String as input and returning an

IO<Unit> . Because readNameT returns a WorldT<Unit> , you just need to
compose it with the primary constructor of IO<Unit> .

Now, you have two functions working with IO<T> without exposing
WorldT<T> anymore. If you look at readNameM , you realize it returns an
IO<String> with the name you might’ve inserted during execution. Of course,
you need to access that value. To do this, just add the following code to the same
file:

fun <T> IO<T>.bind(): T = this(World).first

Because IO<T> represents a way to encapsulate a WorldT<T> , and because

you have just one representation of the world, which is World , you can extract
the value of type T by invoking the transformation with it to get a Pair<T,
World> . Then, you get the first property of the Pair<T, World> and return
it.

This is simple and powerful because you can finally write the following in
IOGreetings.kt:

fun askNameAndPrintGreetingsIO() : () -> Unit = { // 1

printStringM("What's your name? ").bind() // 2
val name = readNameM.bind() // 3
printStringM("Hello $name! \n").bind() // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define askNameAndPrintGreetingsIO as the monadic version of the greeting

app. Note how it returns a value of type () -> Unit you put as explicit here
just to emphasize it.
2. Invoke printStringM with the input message. Remember how this returns
an IO<Unit> . With bind , you actually extract the Unit value you don’t
even use. This means you could also avoid invoking bind() , but you invoke
it here so all the instructions follow the same pattern.
3. Invoke bind on readNameM and assign the String you get to name . In
this case, invoking bind is necessary because you need the name to pass to
the next step.

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4. Print the output using printStringM . In this case, invoking bind() allows
you to return Unit from askNameAndPrintGreetingsIO . Without that,
you’d have returned IO<Unit> .

This is great! You’ve learned some critical points. Here, you:

Don’t explicitly pass the reference to the world ahead anymore.

Don’t have all the indentations you had in askNameAndPrintGreetingsT .

Write your code in a way that’s familiar to a procedural approach.

The only thing you need now is to test if it works. In the same IOGreetings.kt
file, add and run the following code:

fun main() {
askNameAndPrintGreetingsIO().invoke()
}

And you’ll get:

Figure 16.5: Running a monadic greeting

Here, you:

1. Type your name as input.

2. Print the greeting.

Just note how you don’t have to pass any World to the
askNameAndPrintGreetingsIO . The IO<T> monad does this all under the
hood.

The meaning of IO<T>

The greeting example you’ve implemented so far is a great example of a
practical use of IO<T> . However, in Chapter 14, “Error Handling With
Functional Programming”, you learned that sometimes things go wrong. For
instance, you implemented readNameM like:

val readNameM: IO<String> = IO(readNameT)

Where:

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val readNameT: WorldT<String> = readName

val readName: (World) -> Pair<String, World> = { w: World ->

Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine() to World
}

What if readName fails for some reason? In that case, you should write a safe
version of it. Open Safe.kt, and write the following code:

val safeReadName: (World) -> Pair<Result<String>, World> =

{ w: World -> // 1
try {
Result.success(Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine()) to World
} catch (rte: RuntimeException) {
Result.failure<String>(rte) to World
}
}

val safeReadNameError: (World) -> Pair<Result<String>, World> =

{ w: World -> // 2
Result.failure<String>(
RuntimeException("Something went wrong!")
) to World
}

val safeReadNameT: WorldT<Result<String>> = safeReadName // 3

In this code, you define:

1. safeReadName as a function that returns the String you read from the
standard input, encapsulated into a Result<String> .
2. safeReadNameError , which is a failing version of safeReadName .

3. safeReadNameT as a function of type WorldT<Result<String>> .

Now, add the following:

val safePrintStringT: (String) -> WorldT<Result<Unit>> =

{ str: String ->
{ w: World ->
Result.success(Unit) to printString(str)(w)
}
}

This version of printStringT returns a WorldT<Result<Unit>> instead of a

WorldT<Unit> . Now, you can create the monadic versions by adding the
following code:

val safeReadNameM: IO<Result<String>> = IO(safeReadNameT) // 1

val safePrintStringM: (String) -> IO<Result<Unit>> =

safePrintStringT compose ::IO // 2
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In this case, you define:

1. safeReadNameM as encapsulating safeReadNameT into a

IO<Result<String>> .

2. safePrintStringM as a function of type IO<Result<Unit>> encapsulating

safePrintStringT .

Now, the version of the greeting app becomes the following:

fun safeAskNameAndPrintGreetingsIO(): () -> Result<Unit> = { // 1

safePrintStringM("What's your name? ").bind() // 2
.flatMap { _ -> safeReadNameM.bind() } // 3
.flatMap { name ->
safePrintStringM("Hello $name!\n").bind() // 4
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define safeAskNameAndPrintGreetingsIO as a function returning a

Result<Unit> .

2. Invoke safePrintStringM , passing a message, and get the Result<Unit>

using bind .

3. Use flatMap , passing a lambda that returns a Result<String> with the

message in input or the error if something went wrong.

4. Invoke flatMap again, passing a lambda that invokes safePrintStringM

with the greeting in output.

This function is pure and works perfectly. To test this, just run the following
code:

fun main() {
safeAskNameAndPrintGreetingsIO().invoke().fold(
onSuccess = { _ ->
// All good
},
onFailure = { ex ->
println("Error: $ex")
}
)
}

Getting the usual output:

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Figure 16.6: Running a monadic greeting with result

To test how this works in case of error, just replace safeReadName with
safeReadNameError in the definition of safeReadNameT , like this:

val safeReadNameT: WorldT<Result<String>> = safeReadNameError

Run main again, and you’ll get:

Figure 16.7: Running a monadic greeting with error

This is very good, but it might look complicated. This is why some frameworks
like Arrow chose to use suspend functions instead of the IO<T> monad,
which is an excellent decision.

Open Coroutines.kt and write the following code:

suspend fun readStringCo(): String = // 1

Scanner(System.`in`).nextLine()

suspend fun printStringCo(str: String) = // 2

print(str)

@DelicateCoroutinesApi
fun main() {
runBlocking { // 3
printStringCo("What's your name? ") // 4
val name = async { readStringCo() }.await() // 5
printStringCo("Hello $name!\n") // 6
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Write the logic for reading the input String into readStringCo , which is a
suspendable function. It’s important to note how, in this case, the suspend is
redundant, but it allows you to mark it as a function that has a side effect.
2. Do the same for printStringCo that just prints the input String to the
standard output.
3. Just like IO<T> , a suspendable function allows you to wrap a side effect into

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a block. This is very important because when doing this, you’re not actually
running that code — you’re just describing it. In this case, you’re saying that
there will eventually be some other component that runs that suspendable
function. In this case, that component is a Scheduler in the
CoroutineContext used by runBlocking .

4. Invoke printStringCo as a normal function.

5. Use async to wait for the input String you ask for.

6. Finally, use printStringCo to print the greeting message.

Coroutines also allow you to handle exceptions in a robust and easy way.

Note: To learn more about coroutines, check out Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials.

Key points
A pure function doesn’t have any side effects.
A side effect represents a change in the state of the world.

The State<S, T> data type allows you to handle state transitions in a
transparent and pure way.

You can think of the state of the world as a specific type S in State<S, T>
and consider StateTransformer<S, T> as a way to describe a
transformation of the world.

A transformation of the world is another way to define a side effect.

Functions with IO operations are impure by definition.

You can think of the IO<T> data type as a special case of State<S, T> ,
where S is the state of the world. In this way, all functions are pure.

You can easily give IO<T> the superpowers of a functor, applicative

functor and monad.
The IO<T> data type is a way to decouple a side effect from its description.

IO<T> contains the description of a side effect but doesn’t immediately

execute it.
In Kotlin, a suspendable function allows you to achieve the same result as
IO<T> in a more idiomatic and simple way.

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Where to go from here?

Congratulations! With this chapter, you took another crucial step in the study of
the main concepts of functional programming with Kotlin. State management
with the IO<T> monad is one of the most challenging topics forcing you to
think functionally. In the last part of the chapter, you saw how the IO<T>
monad can be easily replaced with the use of coroutines. In the following
chapter, you’ll see even more about this topic and implement some more magic!
:]

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

17 Sequence & Flow

Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 16, “Handling Side Effects”, you learned how to use the IO<T>
monad as a special case of the State<S, T> data type. You also learned that
Kotlin provides coroutines to handle side effects as pure functions in a more
idiomatic way. In this chapter, you’ll learn everything you need to know about
the following special Kotlin data types:

Sequence<T>

Flow<T>

You’ll also have a quick overview of SharedFlow<T> and StateFlow<T> .

You’ll learn how these data types work from a functional programming point of
view. In particular, you’ll answer the following questions for each of these:

What is the context they provide?

Are they a functor?

Are they an applicative functor?

Are they a monad?

Note: If you don’t know coroutines yet, Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials is the book
for you.

This chapter is a big exercise that helps you take the concepts you’ve learned so
far and apply them to the types you use every day in your job. It’s time to have
fun!

The Sequence<T> data type

In Chapter 9, “Data Types”, you learned that List<T> is a data type with the
functor and monad superpowers with the map and flatMap functions. In
Chapter 4, “Expression Evaluation, Laziness & More About Functions”, you also
learned that laziness is one of the main characteristics of functional
programming. To remind you what this means, open ListDataType.kt in this
chapter’s material and write the following code:

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fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) // 1
.filter(filterOdd.logged("filterOdd")) // 2
.map(double.logged("double")) // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Use listOf as a builder for a List<Int> with five elements of type Int .

2. Invoke filter , passing the reference to the logged version of filterOdd .

3. Use map to transform the filter’s values using a logged version of double .

Note: filterOdd and double are two very simple functions you find in
Util.kt in the lib sub-package. logged is a utility higher-order function that
decorates another function with a log message. Take a look at their simple
implementation, if you want.

The interesting fact about the previous code happens when you run it, getting
the following output:

filterOdd(1) = false
filterOdd(2) = true
filterOdd(3) = false
filterOdd(4) = true
filterOdd(5) = false
double(2) = 4
double(4) = 8

This happens because, in each line, you:

1. Create a List<Int> with five elements.

2. Invoke filter , which returns another List<Int> containing only the

even values. It’s crucial to see that filterOdd has been invoked for all the
elements of the original List<Int> .

3. Use map , getting a new List<Int> with the double of the values in the
previous List<Int> .

With this code, you basically created three lists without using any of the
individual lists’ values. What happens if you don’t really need the values in the
List<Int> ? In this case, you started with a List<Int> of five elements. What
if the list has a lot more elements? What if the elements in the List<T> are
infinite?

Well, you don’t have to blame the List<T> data type because its job is to
contain an ordered collection of elements of type T . That’s why it’s been

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created that way. That’s its context, or purpose, if you will. Another way to say it is
that List<T> is eager.

If you don’t want to keep all the possible values in a List<T> , Kotlin provides
the Sequence<T> data type.

Open SequenceDataType.kt and write the following code:

fun main() {
sequenceOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) // HERE
.filter(filterOdd.logged("filterOddSeq"))
.map(double.logged("doubleSeq"))
}

This code differs from the previous one because of the use of sequenceOf
instead of listOf . More importantly, if you run the code, you’ll get nothing as
output. This is because Sequence<T> is lazy. If you want to actually consume
the values in the Sequence<Int> you just created, you need to consume them
using a terminal operator. To see how, add .count() to the end of the method
chain. It should now look like this:

fun main() {
sequenceOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.filter(filterOdd.logged("filterOddSeq"))
.map(double.logged("doubleSeq"))
.count() // HERE
}

Here, you’re just counting the elements in the sequence and, to do it, you need
to consume all of them. This time, running the code, you’ll get the following:

filterOddSeq(1) = false
filterOddSeq(2) = true
doubleSeq(2) = 4
filterOddSeq(3) = false
filterOddSeq(4) = true
doubleSeq(4) = 8
filterOddSeq(5) = false

Note how the order of the log messages is different from the one you got from
the List<T> . In that case, each operator read the values from the input
List<T> . Now, the chain of operators is called for each value you consume.

Note: If you’re curious and want to look at the definition of Sequence<T> ,

you’ll find that it differs from the Iterable<T> interface in the use of the
operator keyword, which allows its use in an enhanced form.

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This clarifies the context for a Sequence<T> as a container that produces the
values it contains only when required. That means it’s lazy. But is Sequence<T> a
functor?

Sequence<T> as a functor
Looking at the Sequence<T> documentation, you see the definition of map
with the following signature:

public fun <T, R> Sequence<T>.map(transform: (T) -> R): Sequence<R>

You used map in the example in the previous section. In this case, you want to
do something more and use property-based testing to prove the functor laws
for Sequence<T> .

Note: You already used property-based testing in Chapter 12, “Monoids &
Semigroups”.

You want to prove that, given the two functions f and g and the identity i :

map(i) == i

map(f compose g) == map(f) compose map(g)

If you want to use property-based testing, you should define a way to generate
random functions using a specific implementation of the following interface
you find in PropertyTest.kt in the lib sub-package in this chapter’s material:

fun interface Generator<T> {

fun generate(n: Int): List<T>
}

As the first step, add the following to the PropertyTestFun.kt file:

fun <T, R> Generator<T>.map(fn: (T) -> R): Generator<R> = object :

Generator<R> {
override fun generate(n: Int): List<R> =
this@map.generate(n).map(fn)
}

This describes the map function for a Generator<T> . It’s just a simple way to
create a Generator<R> from a Generator<T> using a function of type (T) ->
R or, using the typealiases in Definitions.kt, Fun<T, R> .

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Note: Be careful that Generator<T> isn’t a functor because it’s not even pure:
It generates random values.

Now, you can get a Generator<Fun<A, B>> from a Generator<A> and

Generator<B> with the following code you can add to the same
PropertyTestFun.kt:

fun <A, B> funGenerator(bGen: Generator<B>): Generator<Fun<A, B>> =

bGen.map { b: B -> { b } }

Every Fun<A, B> describes a way to map values of type A into values of type
B . The Fun<A, B> you’ll get from funGenerator is a function that maps the
same random value of type B to any values of type A you’ll pass as input to
the generated function. Because that return value is the same for all the input
values, you can assume that the same would happen for a specific value you
might generate during testing.

Open SequenceDataTypeTest.kt in the test build type, and add the following
code:

@Test
fun `Identity Functor Law for Sequences`() {
val intToStringFunGenerator =
funGenerator<Int, String>(StringGenerator(5)) // 1
val i = { s: String -> s } // 2
100.times { // 3
val f = intToStringFunGenerator.one() // 4
val seq = IntGenerator.generate(5).asSequence() // 5
val list1 = seq.map(f compose i).toList() // 6
val list2 = seq.map(f).toList() // 7
Truth.assertThat(list1).isEqualTo(list2) // 8
}
}

Here, you:

1. Use funGenerator to generate a random function of type Fun<Int,

String> . This function maps Int s to String s of length 5 .

2. Provide the identity function i .

3. Iterate 100 times over the following commands.

4. Get a Fun<Int, String> from intToStringFunGenerator and store it in

f .

5. Generate a sequence of 5 random elements in seq .

6. Apply the composition between f and i to seq using map .

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7. In the same way, you apply only f .

8. Verify that the results are the same.

Run the test, and check that everything is successful. Now, you can be confident
that the first law of Sequence<T> as a functor is valid.

The second law is very simple. Just add this code to the same file:

@Test
fun `Composition Functor Law for Sequences`() {
val intToStringFunGenerator =
funGenerator<Int, String>(StringGenerator(5))
val stringToLongFunGenerator =
funGenerator<String, Long>(LongGenerator) // 1
100.times {
val f = intToStringFunGenerator.one()
val g = stringToLongFunGenerator.one() // 2
val seq = IntGenerator.generate(5).asSequence()
val list1 = seq.map(f compose g).toList() // 3
val list2 = seq.map(f).map(g).toList() // 4
Truth.assertThat(list1).isEqualTo(list2) // 5
}
}

The only difference here is that you:

1. Create a new Generator<Fun<String, Long>> in

stringToLongFunGenerator .

2. Use intToStringFunGenerator and stringToLongFunGenerator to generate

two different functions: f and g of type Fun<Int, String> and
Fun<String, Long> , respectively.

3. Invoke map , passing the composition of f and g as a parameter.

4. Invoke map , first with f and then with g .

5. Compare the results of the two cases.

Now, just run the test and see that all the tests are successful. Great job!

Sequence<T> as an applicative functor

You just proved that the Sequence<T> data type is a functor because of the
existing implementation of map . But what about applicative functors? Looking
at the Kotlin documentation, you don’t see any higher-order functions like your
ap and app . No problem — you can do this!

Open SequenceDataType.kt, and add the following code:

fun <A, B> Sequence<A>.ap(

fn: Sequence<(A) -> B>
): Sequence<B> = TODO()
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This is the signature for the ap function for a Sequence<T> . It’s an extension
function on the type Sequence<A> and accepts an input parameter of type
Sequence<(A) -> B> or Sequence<Fun<A, B>> if you use the type alias. The
return type is Sequence<B> . Basically, you have two sequences. The first
generates values of type A , and the second generates functions of type Fun<A,
B> . The result, then, is a Sequence<B> of the value you get by applying the
function in Sequence<Fun<A, B>> to the values in Sequence<A> . How would
you implement ap ?

Note: Feel free to provide your implementation as a fun exercise if you want.

Now, replace the previous code with the following:

fun <A, B> Sequence<A>.ap(fn: Sequence<(A) -> B>): Sequence<B> =

sequence { // 1
val iterator = iterator() // 2
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
val fnIterator = fn.iterator() // 3
val item = iterator.next()
while (fnIterator.hasNext()) {
yield(fnIterator.next().invoke(item)) // 4
}
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Generate a Sequence<B> using the sequence builder.

2. Get the reference to the Iterator<A> from the Sequence<A> and iterate
over it.

3. Get the reference to the Iterator<Fun<A, B>> from the Sequence<Fun<A,

B>> you get as an input parameter and iterate over them.

4. Use yield to produce the value you get by applying the current function
Fun<A, B> to the current value A .

To see how it works, start by adding the following utility function. It allows you
to use ap as an infix operator, as you did with the other applicative functor
implementations:

infix fun <A, B> Sequence<(A) -> B>.appl(a: Sequence<A>) =

a.ap(this)

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To see it working, replace the main implementation in SequenceDataType.kt

with the following:

fun main() {
data class User( // 1
val id: Int,
val name: String,
val email: String
)

val userBuilder = ::User.curry() // 2

val userBuilderSeq = sequenceOf(userBuilder) // 3
val idSeq = sequenceOf(10, 20, 30) // 4
val nameSeq = sequenceOf("Minnie", "Donald", "Mickey") // 4
val emailSeq =
sequenceOf("aaaaaa@aaaaa.com", "bbbbb@bbbbbb.com") // 4

val userSeq =
userBuilderSeq appl idSeq appl nameSeq appl emailSeq // 5

userSeq.forEach(::println) // 6
}

In this example, you:

1. Create a User data class representing a user with id , name and email
properties.
2. Use curry to get the User constructor as a function of type (Int) ->
(String) -> (String) -> User .

3. Create a Sequence<(Int) -> (String) -> (String) -> User> using the
sequenceOf builder.

4. Use sequenceOf for creating a Sequence<Int> for the id s,

Sequence<String> for name s and Sequence<String> for the email s.

5. Use appl to create a Sequence<User> .

6. Print all the values in the Sequence<User> .

When you run this code, you’ll get 3 * 3 * 2 = 18 different values, like the
following:

User(id=10, name=Minnie, email=aaaaaa@aaaaa.com)

User(id=20, name=Minnie, email=aaaaaa@aaaaa.com)
// ...
User(id=20, name=Mickey, email=bbbbb@bbbbbb.com)
User(id=30, name=Mickey, email=bbbbb@bbbbbb.com)

Considering that the context of a Sequence<T> is to provide values of type T in

a lazy way, applying a function with multiple parameters leads to a number of
values, like in the previous example.

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Sequence<T> as a monad
Is Sequence<T> finally a monad? Of course it is, because of the flatMap
operation that Kotlin APIs provide with the following signature, similar to the
Kleisli category:

fun <T, R> Sequence<T>.flatMap(

transform: (T) -> Sequence<R>
): Sequence<R>

You can test how this works by running the following example:

fun main() {
// ...
val seqTo = { n: Int -> (1..n).toList().asSequence() }
val seqOfSeq = sequenceOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5).flatMap(seqTo)
seqOfSeq.forEach { print("$it ") }
}

Getting an output like the following:

1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

The Flow<T> data type

In Chapter 16, “Handling Side Effects”, you learned that Kotlin allows you to
achieve with suspendable functions what you can do with the IO<T> monad. In
this chapter, you’ve already learned how to produce a theoretically infinite
sequence of values in a lazy way. If the values you want to generate are the
result of a suspendable function, the Flow<T> data type is what you need.

You can then say that the context of the Flow<T> data type is the generation of
a sequence of values you create using a suspendable function which, as you
know, allows you to handle side effects in a pure fashion.

As you’ll see, a Flow<T> is very similar to a Sequence<T> in terms of

functional programming concepts. So, the following sections are basically a
good review of things you’ve already learned: repetita juvant, as the Romans
used to say! :]

Flow<T> as a functor
To prove that Flow<T> is a functor, you could repeat the same process you did

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for Sequence<T> using property-based testing. In this case, you’ll keep things
easier, implementing some practical examples.

Note: As an interesting exercise, you could use property-based testing for

Flow<T> as well.

Open FlowDataType.kt and add the following code:

fun inputStringFlow(question: String = "") = flow { // 1

val scanner = java.util.Scanner(System.`in`) // 2
print(question) // 3
while (scanner.hasNextLine()) { // 4
val line = scanner.nextLine() // 4
if (line.isNullOrEmpty()) { // 5
break
}
emit(line) // 6
print(question) // 3
}
scanner.close() // 7
}

In this code, you:

1. Define inputStringFlow as a function that returns a Flow<String> of the

text you write as input using a Scanner reading from the standard input.
This is a flow version of the effect you used in Chapter 16, “Handling Side
Effects”. You have a question parameter that allows you to print some text
before the user enters anything.

2. Initialize the Scanner reading from the standard input.

3. Print the question.

4. Read all the input one line at a time.

5. Exit the cycle if the user enters an empty line.

6. Emit the value from the user as a value from the Flow<String> .

7. Close the Scanner .

As an example of a functor, add the following code to the same file:

fun main() {
val strLengthFlow = inputStringFlow("Insert a word: ") // 1
.map { str -> // 2
str to str.length
}
runBlocking { // 3
strLengthFlow.collect { strInfo -> // 4
println("${strInfo.first} has length ${strInfo.second}")
}
}
}
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In this code, you:

1. Use inputStringFlow to get a Flow<String> for the user input. Note that
you run this outside any specific CoroutineScope . You’re not executing
anything — you’re just stating you eventually might.
2. Invoke map , passing a lambda that returns a Pair<String, Int> of the
input String and its length. It’s important to note that the lambda here is
executed as a suspendable block. This means that it has a scope, and it can
contain invocations to other suspendable functions. In other words, using
map(String::length) would give a compilation error because
String::length isn’t a suspendable function. In your context, this also
means you can apply a transformation, Fun<A, B> , to the values you get
from a Flow<A, B> , which is the consequence of a side effect.

3. Define a runBlocking block. This is because you’ll consume, or better, collect

what the Flow<Pair<String, Int>> produces, so the side effects you
described will actually run.

4. Collect and print the output values of type Pair<String, Int> you get from
the flow.

Now, you can run the code and get an output like the following:

Figure 17.1: Testing the flow data type

To answer the initial question, yes, Flow<T> is a functor, but remember that
the transformation Fun<A, B> must be a suspendable function.

Flow<T> as an applicative functor

To see if the Flow<T> also behaves as an applicative functor, either repeat what
you did for the Sequence<T> or just follow along. In FlowDataType.kt, add the
following code:

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fun <A, B> Flow<A>.ap(fn: Flow<(A) -> B>): Flow<B> = flow { // 1
collect { a -> // 2
fn.collect { f -> // 3
emit(f(a)) // 4
}
}
}

infix fun <A, B> Flow<(A) -> B>.appl(

a: Flow<A>
) = a.ap(this) // 5

Here, you:

1. Define ap with the usual signature as an extension function for Flow<A> .

2. Collect the value of type A from the Flow<A> you have as the receiver.

3. Collect the function f of type Fun<A, B> from the Flow<Fun<A, B>> or
Flow<(A) -> B> you pass as the input parameter fn .

4. Apply the function f to the value a and emit the result.

5. As usual, define appl as an infix version of ap .

You can then test everything by adding the following code to the same file:

fun main() {
val userBuilder = { id: Int ->
{ name: String ->
{ email: String -> User(id, name, email) }
}
}

val userBuilderFlow = flowOf(userBuilder)

val idFlow = listOf(10, 20, 30).asFlow()
val nameFlow = listOf("Pippo", "Pippo2", "Pippo3").asFlow()
val emailFlow = listOf(
"pippo@pippo.com", "pippo2@pippo.com", "pippo3@pippo.com"
).asFlow()

val userFlow =
userBuilderFlow appl idFlow appl nameFlow appl emailFlow
runBlocking {
userFlow.collect(::println)
}
}

This code shouldn’t be a surprise anymore. When you run it, you’ll get:

User(id=10, name=Pippo, email=pippo@pippo.com)

User(id=20, name=Pippo, email=pippo@pippo.com)
// ...
User(id=20, name=Pippo3, email=pippo3@pippo.com)
User(id=30, name=Pippo3, email=pippo3@pippo.com)

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The same notes you learned for Sequence<T> are valid here.

Flow<T> as a monad
To answer the last question, you’ll implement a more complex example using
some of the code you already implemented in Chapter 14, “Error Handling With
Functional Programming”, that you can find in the material for this project. You
basically want to use inputStringFlow to allow a user to insert some text to
search for in the TV show database using the TVmaze API. Now, you’re in the
world of coroutines, so you should use their power. It’s time for an interesting
exercise to improve your functional thinking.

Imagine you have a basic function, like the following you can write in Basic.kt:

fun doSomeWork(name: String): Int = 10

It doesn’t really matter what doSomeWork does. What’s important is the type,
which is (String) -> Int , and how the function achieves its goal. If it needs to
do some hard work, you probably want to run it in the background, so in the
context of a coroutine. You can do this with the following code, which you
should add to the same file:

suspend fun doSomeBgWork(

ctx: CoroutineContext,
name: String
): Int = withContext(ctx) {
doSomeWork(name)
}

This simple code has a few interesting things to note. doSomeBgWork :

Is a suspend function.

Accepts two parameters now. The first is of type CoroutineContext , and the
second is the input for doSomeWork .

Uses withContext to run doSomeWork in the CoroutineContext you

provide as input.

Has the return type Int .

You already know that in functional programming, you don’t like functions with
multiple parameters. No problem — you also know you can curry them, but
with doSomeBgWork , there’s a problem. You can see the problem by adding the
following code:

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fun main() {
doSomeBgWork.curry()
}

You’ll get the following error:

Figure 17.2: Unresolved reference: curry

The reason is very simple. When you set a function as suspend , you’re
basically changing its type. The Kotlin compiler adds implicit parameters of type
Continuation that keep track of the state of the coroutine.

Note: Look at the decompiled code, and you can see how the Continuation is
used in a way that reminds you how you implemented the State<S, T> and
IO<T> data types.

How can you then implement curry for a suspendable function? You already
know that. In the same Basic.kt file, add the following definitions:

typealias SuspendFun<A, B> = suspend (A) -> B // 1

typealias SuspendFun2<A, B, C> = suspend (A, B) -> C // 2
typealias SuspendChain2<A, B, C> =
suspend (A) -> suspend (B) -> C // 3

In this simple code, you define an alias for suspendable functions of:

1. One input parameter of type A and one output parameter of type B .

2. Two input parameters of type A and B and one output parameter of type
C .

3. One input parameter of type A and a suspendable function of one input

parameter of type B and output of type C .
These allow you to define curry for suspendable functions by adding the
following code:

fun <A, B, C> SuspendFun2<A, B, C>.curry(): SuspendChain2<A, B, C>

=
{ a: A ->
{ b: B ->
this(a, b)
}
}

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Now, the previous code compiles successfully:

Figure 17.3: Curry for suspendable function

Implementing curry for suspendable functions is a kind of a warm-up. Going

back to doSomeBgWork , you can say that the type of ::doSomeBgWork.curry()
is now (String) -> (CoroutineContext) -> Int . Umm, that’s starting to ring
a bell.

What really matters in functional programming is composition. What you did

earlier is say that you can create a suspendable function from a non-
suspendable one, providing a CoroutineContext , and this carrying on reminds
you of something you already learned: the State<S, T> monad.

CoroutineContext as a state
To relate the State<S, T> monad to what you saw about suspendable
functions, look again at doSomeBgWork , which you wrote in Basic.kt:

suspend fun doSomeBgWork(ctx: CoroutineContext, name: String): Int

=
withContext(ctx) {
doSomeWork(name)
}

It has the type (CoroutineContext, String) -> Int . If the

CoroutineContext is something you want to carry on, you can create
doSomeMoreBgWork like the following:

suspend fun doSomeMoreBgWork(

ctx: CoroutineContext,
name: String
): Pair<CoroutineContext, Int> = withContext(ctx) {
ctx to doSomeWork(name)
}

doSomeMoreBgWork has the type (CoroutineContext, String) ->

Pair<CoroutineContext, Int> . Applying curry , you can get a function of type

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(String) -> (CoroutineContext) -> Pair<CoroutineContex, Int> .

Note: Yes, the CoroutineContext and String types have different orders,
but you already know how to implement flip , right?

Now, the analogy with State<S, T> is almost obvious. You just need to fix a
problem caused by the presence of the suspend modifier. No problem.

Open SuspendState.kt and add the following first definition:

typealias SuspendStateTransformer<S, T> =

suspend (S) -> Pair<S, T>

Ring a bell now? Using this definition, the type of doSomeMoreBgWork is suspend
(String) -> SuspendStateTransformer<CoroutineContext, Int> .

You can now follow the same process you did for State<S, T> , keeping in
mind you’re working with suspendable functions, and the state is a
CoroutineContext .

In SuspendState.kt, add the following code:

data class SuspendableState<S, T>(

val sst: SuspendStateTransformer<S, T>
) {

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <S, T> lift(
value: T
): SuspendableState<S, T> =
SuspendableState { state -> state to value }
}
}

Here, you define the SuspendableState data type using

SuspendStateTransformer .

You can now add the implementation for map :

fun <S, A, B> SuspendableState<S, A>.map(

fn: SuspendFun<A, B>
): SuspendableState<S, B> =
SuspendableState { s0: S ->
val (s1, a) = this.sst(s0)
s1 to fn(a)
}

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Finally, add the implementation for flatMap like this:

fun <S, A, B> SuspendableState<S, A>.flatMap(

fn: suspend (A) -> SuspendableState<S, B>
): SuspendableState<S, B> =
SuspendableState { s0: S ->
val (s1, a) = this.sst(s0)
fn(a).sst(s1)
}

Note: This time, you can’t override the invoke operator as you did in a non-
coroutine environment. To be useful, it should also be suspendable, and this
wouldn’t work.

How can you use this for your initial TV show problem? There’s actually quite a
bit more fun in store for you. :]

Back to the TV show

In the previous section, you created the SuspendableState<S, T> data type
and implemented lift , map and flatMap . How can you use these for getting
data about a TV show? In the tools sub-package in this chapter’s material, you
find TvShowFetcher and TvShowParser for, respectively, fetching and parsing
data using the TVmaze API.

Look at the existing code, and you’ll see that TvShowFetcher and
TvShowParser don’t actually handle exceptions. This is also why you used
those objects in many different ways in Chapter 14, “Error Handling With
Functional Programming”.

Now, you want to run them as side effects in a suspendable function and handle
errors. How can you do that?

Open ShowSearchService.kt and add the following code:

suspend fun fetchTvShowResult( // 1

ctx: CoroutineContext,
query: String
): Result<String> = // 2
withContext(ctx) { // 3
try {
Result.success(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query)) // 4
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
Result.failure(ioe) // 5
}
}

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This code should look familiar, even if it combines a few concepts. Here, you:

1. Define fetchTvShowResult as a suspendable function with a

CoroutineContext as the first parameter and a String as the second. Note
how the structure of this function is very similar to the one of
doSomeMoreBgWork .

2. Set Result<String> as the return type. This is a little bit more complicated
than a simple String . You’ll need to do some more work because of this, as
you’ll see later.

3. Use the CoroutineContext you receive in ctx to create a coroutine.

4. Invoke TvShowFetcher.fetch , passing the query as input. In the case of

success, you return the String wrapped in a Result<String> .
5. In the case of error, you encapsulate the IOException in a
Result<String> . Yes, the value for the type parameter is String .

For TvShowParser.parse , you can follow the same pattern, adding this to the
same file:

suspend fun parseTvShowResult(

ctx: CoroutineContext,
json: String
): Result<List<ScoredShow>> =
withContext(ctx) {
try {
Result.success(TvShowParser.parse(json))
} catch (e: Exception) {
Result.failure(e)
}
}

This time, the resulting type is Result<List<ScoredShow>> , but the structure is

the same.

So far, so good. Now, you have two functions:

1. fetchTvShowResult of type suspend (CoroutineContext, String) ->

Result<String> .

2. parseTvShowResult of type suspend (CoroutineContext, String) ->

Result<List<ScoredShow>> .

They look like the functions of type suspend (A) ->

SuspendStateTransformer<CoroutineContext, B> you can compose using the
flatMap implementation you created earlier for SuspendableState .

You can try to solve this problem by adding the following code:

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val fetchSuspend: (String) -> SuspendableState<

CoroutineContext, Result<String>> = { query ->
SuspendableState { ctx: CoroutineContext ->
ctx to fetchTvShowResult(ctx, query)
}
}

val parseSuspend: (String) -> SuspendableState<

CoroutineContext, Result<List<ScoredShow>>> = { json ->
SuspendableState { ctx: CoroutineContext ->
ctx to parseTvShowResult(ctx, json)
}
}

Now:

1. fetchSuspend has type (String) ->

SuspendableState<CoroutineContext, Result<String>> .

2. parseSuspend has type (String) ->

SuspendableState<CoroutineContext, Result<List<ScoredShow>>> .

This is a problem because, in both cases, you have a

SuspendableState<CoroutineContext, Result<T>> . This means a Result<T>
data type encapsulates into a SuspendableState<S, T> data type. Composition,
as defined in flatMap for SuspendableState , doesn’t work. How can you fix
it?

Composing SuspendableState<CoroutineContext,
Result<T>>
To implement composition now is simpler than it seems. Open
SuspendableStateResult.kt, and add the following code:

typealias SuspendStateResultTransformer<S, T> =

suspend (S) -> Pair<S, Result<T>> // 1

data class SuspendableStateResult<S, T>( // 2

val sst: SuspendStateResultTransformer<S, T>
) {

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <S, T> lift( // 3
value: T
): SuspendableStateResult<S, T> =
SuspendableStateResult { state ->
state to Result.success(value)
}
}
}

fun <S, A, B> SuspendableStateResult<S, A>.map( // 4

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fn: SuspendFun<A, B>
): SuspendableStateResult<S, B> =
SuspendableStateResult { s0: S ->
val (s1, a) = this.sst(s0)
s1 to a.fold(
onSuccess = { Result.success(fn(it)) },
onFailure = { Result.failure(it) }
)
}

fun <S, A, B> SuspendableStateResult<S, A>.flatMap( // 5

fn: suspend (A) -> SuspendableStateResult<S, B>
): SuspendableStateResult<S, B> = SuspendableStateResult { s0 ->
val (s1, res) = sst(s0)
res.fold(onSuccess = { a: A ->
fn(a).sst(s1)
}, onFailure = { thowable ->
s1 to Result.failure(thowable)
})
}

It’s a lot of code, but everything should be clear. In particular, you define:

1. SuspendStateResultTransformer<S, T> as a type of suspendable functions

returning a Pair<S, Result<T>> .
2. SuspendableStateResult<S, T> as a data type encapsulating a
SuspendStateResultTransformer<S, T> .

3. lift to create a SuspendableStateResult<S, T> from a value of type T .

4. map to apply a function of type SuspendFun<A, B> to a
SuspendableStateResult<S, A> to get a SuspendableStateResult<S, B> .

5. flatMap to finally be able to compose functions returning

SuspendableStateResult<S, T> .

Now, you’re finally ready to access your TV show information.

Finally atMap
It’s finally time to put everything together so you can access the TVmaze
database. Open ShowSearchService.kt, and add the following code:

val fetchSuspendResult: (String) -> SuspendableStateResult<

CoroutineContext, String> = { query ->
SuspendableStateResult { ctx: CoroutineContext ->
ctx to fetchTvShowResult(ctx, query)
}
}

val parseSuspendResult: (String) -> SuspendableStateResult<

CoroutineContext, List<ScoredShow>> = { json ->
SuspendableStateResult { ctx: CoroutineContext ->
ctx to parseTvShowResult(ctx, json)
}
}

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Here, you create:

1. fetchSuspendResult of type (String) ->

SuspendableStateResult<CoroutineContext, String> .

2. parseSuspendResult of type (String) ->

SuspendableStateResult<CoroutineContext, List<ScoredShow>> .

You can now compose these functions. Just add the following code to the same
file:

@OptIn(FlowPreview::class) // 1
suspend fun searchTvShow(ctx: CoroutineContext) = // 2
withContext(ctx) {
inputStringFlow("Search Your Show: ") // 3
.flatMapConcat { query -> // 4
fetchSuspendResult(query)
.flatMap(parseSuspendResult).sst(ctx) // 5
.second.fold(
onSuccess = { it.asFlow() }, // 6
onFailure = { emptyFlow() }) // 7
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Opt-in to the experimental Flow<T> API.

2. Define searchTvShow as a function accepting a CoroutineContext in input.

3. Invoke inputStringFlow , passing a String to use as a message.

4. Use the predefined flatMapConcat to compose inputStringFlow with the

suspendable function you get by composing fetchSuspendResult and
parseSuspendResult .

5. Pass the CoroutineContext you get as input to the function you get from
the composition of fetchSuspendResult and parseSuspendResult .
6. Return the value in Result<List<ScoredShow>> as a Flow<ScoredShow> in
case of success.

7. Return an empty Flow<ScoredShow> in case of error.

To test this, add the following code:

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@OptIn(FlowPreview::class)
fun main() {
runBlocking { // 1
searchTvShow(Dispatchers.IO) // 2
.collect { // 3
println("Score: ${it.score} " +
"Name: ${it.show.name} " +
"Genres: ${it.show.genres}") // 4
println(it.show.summary)
println("--------------------------")
}
}
}

Here, you:
1. Use runBlocking to give some scope to searchTvShow .
2. Invoke searchTvShow , passing Dispatchers.IO as CoroutineContext .
This allows your code to run in the background.
3. Collect all the results.

4. Print its content, if any.

Now, you can run the previous code and have some fun, like this:

Figure 17.4: Querying the TVmaze API

Everything works as expected, and this has been a great exercise to understand
how to:

Define the right abstraction.

Reuse what you learned in the previous chapters of the book.

Implement composition for the previous abstractions.

Think in a functional way.

Great job!

The SharedFlow<T> & StateFlow<T> data

types
SharedFlow<T> and StateFlow<T> are two additional flavors the coroutines
API provides for flows. In terms of data types and the functions they provide,
you can think of SharedState<T> and StateFlow<T> as implementations of
Flow<T> with specific behavior when collected by multiple collectors.

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For this reason, all the concepts you’ve seen so far are also valid for
SharedState<T> and StateFlow<T> .

Key points
The List<T> data type allows you to store an ordered collection of elements
of type T in an eager way.

All the elements of a List<T> , which is immutable, are present at the

moment you create it.
The List<T> data type is a functor and monad because of the presence of
map and flatMap . You can also make it an applicative functor by
implementing ap .
The Sequence<T> data type allows you to generate a sequence of values of
type T in a lazy way.
In a Sequence<T> , map and flatMapConcat are invoked when the values
need to be collected and consumed.

A Sequence<T> can work as a functor, applicative functor and monad.

The Flow<T> data type is similar to Sequence<T> but in the context of a

coroutine.

Suspendable functions are an idiomatic and powerful tool to handle side

effects in Kotlin.
A Flow<T> allows you to generate a sequence, or flow, of values of type T
that can be generated from suspendable functions.
You can implement curry and composition for suspendable functions as
you did for non-suspendable ones, just following the functional
programming principles you learned in the previous chapters.
You can repeat for SharedFlow<T> and StateFlow<T> the same process
you followed for a Flow<T> .

Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you had the opportunity to apply concepts you
learned in the previous chapter in a concrete example that allowed you to fetch
information about your favorite TV shows. You’ve learned how to create
Sequence<T> and how to use Flow<T> in an environment of concurrency.
Finally, you’ve empowered your functional thinking by implementing
abstractions for composing suspendable functions, returning a Result<T>
monad. It’s been a lot of work and also a lot of fun!

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As mentioned previously, you can take a look at Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials to
learn more about coroutines, SharedFlow<T> and StateFlow<T> . The
following chapters will talk about a couple more libraries that embody
functional programming principles.

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18 Mobius — A Functional
Reactive Framework
Written by Massimo Carli

In Chapter 15, “Managing State”, you learned the importance of the concept of
state. A state is usually defined as some value that can change over time. You
also learned that what you consider a state defines side effects. A side effect is
something that changes the state of the world, which is outside the context of a
function.

Side effects aren’t harmful as long as you can control them. In Chapter 16,
“Handling Side Effects”, you saw how important it is to separate the description
of an effect from its actual execution.

These are all the fundamental principles used by Mobius, which is defined as: “a
functional reactive framework for managing state evolution and side-effects,
with add-ons for connecting to Android UIs and RxJava Observables. It
emphasizes separation of concerns, testability, and isolating stateful parts of the
code”.

In this chapter, you’ll learn:

The main concepts Mobius is based on.

What the Mobius loop is and how it works.

What the Mobius workflow is, and how to apply it to a real case.

How Mobius works with Android.

How Mobius handles side effects.

You’ll do this by creating a Mobius version of the RayTV app you met in Chapter
14, “Error Handling With Functional Programming”. You’ll call it Raybius. :]

Note: Although Mobius’s architecture and principles don’t depend on it,

RxJava is one of the most commonly used libraries to handle side effects.
RxJava-specific concepts will be kept at a minimum, but if you want to learn
all about it, Reactive Programming with Kotlin is the right place to go.

Note: The Raybius app uses Dagger and Hilt. If you want to learn all about the
Android dependency injection framework, Dagger by Tutorials is the perfect
book for you.

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Mobius principles and concepts

To understand how Mobius works, just think about a typical mobile app. You
have some UI that displays some information. You usually interact with the UI
by pressing some buttons or providing some input. This triggers some actions to
access, for instance, a server, fetch some data and show it in the UI. This might
look like an overly simplified description of what usually happens, but the
reality isn’t far off. You can represent the flow like in Figure 18.1:

Figure 18.1: The Mobius loop

This image has numerous interesting concepts you can easily understand by
following the flow described earlier.

When you launch your app, you can see a UI, which is usually a composition of
views, like TextView s, Button s and so on. You can think of a view as a way to
represent some data. When the data changes, the UI usually changes. This is
important because you can think of the data as the current state of the UI. The
data you want to display with the UI is usually represented as the model.

As mentioned earlier, the user interacts with the UI by pressing some buttons or
providing some data as input. Mobius represents these actions as events. An
event is what makes an app interesting. Some events just update the UI, creating
a new model to display. Others are more complicated because they trigger a
request to the server or access to a database.

To handle both use cases, Mobius provides an Update function. It receives the
current model and the input event, and returns the new model and an optional
description of a side effect. It’s crucial to see how the Update function lives in the

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pure section of the diagram. The Update function is pure. This is because:

The new model just depends on the input model/state and event.

It returns a description of the side effects you need to execute eventually.

This makes the Update function very easy to test. Not represented in Figure
18.1 is the Init function. Init is a version of Update that generates the first
state and, optionally, the first set of effects to generate.

Now, Mobius sends the new model to the UI and the optional effects to some
effect handlers. These are what actually execute the side effects, usually in a
background thread. It’s also interesting to see that effect handlers notify the
outcome using events and how they go through the same flow you saw earlier for
the events from the UI.

The Update function is invoked, and a new state/model is created along with
other optional side effect descriptions.

This is an example of a unidirectional flow. It favors principles like

immutability and purity to avoid the classical problems of a concurrent
application, like race conditions and deadlocks.

Finally, an event source represents a generic component able to generate events

even without a specific interaction from the user. Think about the events
related to the battery level or your device going offline and then back online
again.

The previous architecture is straightforward and gives each component a clear

responsibility, as the separation of concerns principle suggests. This also
allows the implementation of a process named the Mobius workflow.

The Mobius work ow

In the previous section, you learned that the main concepts in Mobius are:

Models

Events

Effects

Init functions

Update functions

This implies that creating an app with Mobius means defining these same
concepts in the domain of the app itself. This leads to a sequence of steps you
can follow every time in the design and implementation of your app. This

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process has a name: the Mobius workflow. It consists of the following four steps:

1. Model or MoFlow (Short for “Mobius Flow”)

2. Describe

3. Plan

4. Build

It’s interesting now to see each of these in detail in the context of the Raybius
app.

Model your app

Models in Mobius can represent different concepts like:

The current state of the app.

An event generated by a user action.

An external event.

An event result of a side effect’s execution.

Usually, the steps are the following:

External events definition: In your case, the Raybius app doesn’t handle any
external events, but it could. For instance, you could display a message and
disable the input if the device is offline and then restore that functionality when
it reestablishes a connection. To track all the use cases, you create a table like
the following. This is the MoFlow table.

Figure 18.2: The initial MoFlow

Because you don’t have external events, the table is initially empty. No problem!
You deal with user interactions next.

Capture user interactions: These represent the possible events you can
generate when the user interacts with the app. In your case, you can enter the
name of a TV show in the EditField and tap the button to perform the search.
This leads to the following events:

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Figure 18.3: The MoFlow with user interaction events

When the user changes the text to use as input, the app generates an
InputTextChanged with the new text. When the user clicks SEARCH, it triggers
SearchButtonClicked .

Define effects: Here, you need to think about the effects the previous events
can generate. In your case, you only have one effect — the one related to the
request to the server for fetching the information about your TV show. Call this
effect SearchTvShow , and add it to the table like this:

Figure 18.4: Adding effects

Define your model: In this step, you need to define the model as a
representation of your app’s view. In Raybius, you enter text, so you probably
want to disable the SEARCH button if the text field is empty or the text string is
too short. So, the model should then contain some kind of property that enables
or disables the SEARCH button. If you decide to handle the offline case, you also
need a variable that disables all the features or displays some messages. For this,
you can define TvShowModel , which makes your MoFlow table like the
following:

Figure 18.5: Define models

As you’ll see later, TvShowModel will contain different types of information,

like:

If you need to display a spinner.

If you have some results.

The current input text.

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The view of your app will use all this data to render the information you need.

Define effects feedback events: Now, you have TvShowModel to keep track of
the current state of the input text, and you know what events to generate when
the user interacts with the app. You also know that you want the app to execute
an effect for accessing the server to fetch the information about the input show.
Hopefully, this effect will produce some results or — hopefully not — some
errors. As you learned in Figure 18.1, effects notify some results using other
events. In the case of Raybius, you can have a SearchSuccess containing the
actual results and SearchFailure in case of errors. This leads to the following
new version of the MoFlow table:

Figure 18.6: Define effects feedback events

But what do you do in case of error? You probably need to display some error
messages using, for instance, a Toast . To do this, you might need other events
or, like in this case, a new effect. In case of success, you’ll probably want to
select an item from a list and display the details for the show. This leads to the
ItemClicked event and the GetTvShowDetail effect, which then leads to the
TvShowDetailSuccess and TvShowDetailFailure events. Moving from the list
to the detail allows you to define the NavigateToDetail effect. When you get
results, you probably want to hide the keyboard — you can do this with the
HideKeyboard effect. The DetailViewResumed event is useful to trigger the
GetTvShowDetail effect when the detail screen is displayed.

As you’ll see later, the resulting MoFlow table is the following:

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Figure 18.7: Additional effects

Now, you have a clear understanding of what your app should do and how it
should behave when different events are triggered. You’d usually do MoFlow on
a whiteboard and with the help of your designer or other stakeholders.

Describe your app

When you have the MoFlow for your app, you can start implementing the
Update function. Update is a pure function that receives the event and the
current model as input and generates the new model and the set of effects as
output. In Mobius, an instance of the Next class encapsulates this information.

To see how this is implemented in Raybius, open the starter project in this
chapter’s material in Android Studio, and run the app. You’ll see the following
screen:

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Figure 18.8: The Raybius app

Note how the SEARCH button is disabled. This is because the text field input is
empty. When you insert a text string longer than three characters, you’ll see the
button enabled.
When you click it, you’ll see the results in a list like this:

Figure 18.9: Some TV shows as results

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Also, note how the keyboard is now hidden. At the moment, you can’t select a
show, but you’ll implement that feature later in the chapter. Now, look at the
existing code. Open TvShowModel.kt in the raybius.mobius package, and look
at the current implementation for the model:

data class TvShowModel(

val searchEnabled: Boolean = false, // 1
val inputText: String = "", // 2
val loading: Boolean = false, // 3
val searchResults: List<ScoredShow> = emptyList(), // 4
val error: Boolean = false // 5
)

This is a simple data class containing the properties that tells the view:

1. If the search button is enabled.

2. What the current input text is.

3. Whether the app is loading some data. This is useful for displaying a spinner.
4. What the existing results to display are.

5. If there’s some error.

To see where this logic is actually used, open FragmentSearchBindingExt.kt in

raybius.ui. This file contains extension functions for the
FragmentSearchBinding class that the binding library creates for the
fragment_search.xml layout file. In this file, you can see the following
function:

fun FragmentSearchBinding.logic(model: TvShowModel) {

if (model.loading) {
showLoading()
} else {
hideLoading()
}
displayResults(model.searchResults)
if (model.error) {
errorMode()
}
searchButton.isEnabled = model.searchEnabled
}

This is quite simple and describes how the view changes when a new model
needs to be rendered.

To see what happens when the user taps SEARCH, look at the initUI function
in the same file.

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fun FragmentSearchBinding.initUI(
eventConsumer: Consumer<TvShowEvent>,
onItemSelected: (Int) -> Unit
) {
with(resultRecyclerView) {
adapter = ScoredShowAdapter(onItemSelected)
layoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(context)
visibility = View.GONE
}
helpMessage.visibility = View.VISIBLE
progressBar.visibility = View.GONE
textUpdate { text ->
eventConsumer.accept(InputTextChanged(text)) // 1
}
search {
eventConsumer.accept(SearchButtonClicked) // 2
}
}

TvSearchFragment invokes this function to initialize the UI. It’s basically UI

code, but it uses an object of type Consumer<TvShowEvent> to generate Mobius
events from the UI. Note how you use eventConsumer to fire:

1. InputTextChanged events when the user updates the text input.

2. SearchButtonClicked when the user taps SEARCH.

Later, you’ll see where the Consumer<TvShowEvent> comes from, but for now,
you can think of it as the tool to interact with the Mobius loop you saw in Figure
18.1.

To see the events, just open TvShowEvent.kt in mobius, and see they’re very
simple data classes or objects:

sealed class TvShowEvent

data class InputTextChanged(val text: String) : TvShowEvent()
object SearchButtonClicked : TvShowEvent()
data class TvSearchSuccess(
val results: List<ScoredShow>
) : TvShowEvent()
data class TvSearchFailure(val ex: Throwable) : TvShowEvent()

Now, you’ve seen how to send events and how to change the UI based on the
current model. But the core of the Mobius architecture is the Update function.
Open TvShowLogic.kt in the mobius package, and look at the following code:

val tvShowLogic: TvShowUpdate = object : TvShowUpdate {

override fun update(
model: TvShowModel, event: TvShowEvent
): Next<TvShowModel, TvShowEffect> =
when (event) {
is InputTextChanged -> Next.next( // 1

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model.copy(
searchEnabled = event.text.length >= 3,
inputText = event.text
)
)
is SearchButtonClicked -> Next.next( // 2
model.copy(loading = true),
setOf(SearchTvShow(model.inputText))
)
is TvSearchSuccess -> Next.next( // 3
model.copy(
searchResults = event.results,
searchEnabled = true
), setOf(HideKeyboard)
)
is TvSearchFailure -> Next.next( // 4
model.copy(
error = true,
searchEnabled = true
), setOf(
HideKeyboard, DisplayErrorMessage(
event.ex
)
)
)
else -> Next.noChange()
}
}

This is a simple function that translates what you’ve designed in the MoFlow
table into code. For instance, you can see that:

1. If you receive an InputTextChanged event, you check if the text in input has
at least 3 characters and generate a new TvShowModel with the
searchEnabled property set to true and the inputText with the new text.
In this case, you don’t trigger any effects.

2. When the user taps SEARCH, it generates a SearchButtonClicked . Here,

you set the loading property to true and trigger a SearchTvShow effect.

3. If access to the server is successful, you receive a TvSearchSuccess . In this

case, you update SearchTvShow with the results and trigger the
HideKeyboard effect.

4. In case of error, you receive a TvSearchFailure , and you then trigger the
DisplayErrorMessage effect to display an error message along with the
HideKeyboard effect.

This function is easy to read and pretty straightforward to write. All good, but
what about the effects?

Plan your app

In this step, you basically design how your app should do all the tasks you

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described in the Update function. The actual code should be part of the next
step, but right now, you’ll look at how different effects are executed. You already
know that an effect is basically the description of an operation that changes the
external world. The component responsible for actually executing an effect is
called an effect handler. Mobius provides different ways to implement an effect
handler.

In the case of the Raybius app, you have two of them. Open TvShowEffect.kt
and look at the following effects’ definitions:

sealed interface TvShowEffect

data class SearchTvShow(val query: String) : TvShowEffect
data class DisplayErrorMessage(
val error: Throwable
) : TvShowEffect
object HideKeyboard : TvShowEffect

For each of them, you need to define an effect handler. Some are very simple
and just need to consume the information into the effect class. Others are more
complicated and need to generate some events as the result of the effect.
DisplayErrorMessage is in the first category. Open UIEffectHandlerImpl.kt in
mobius.handlers, and look at the following code:

override fun handleErrorMessage(effect: DisplayErrorMessage) {

val errorMessage = effect.error.localizedMessage
?: activityContext.getString(R.string.generic_error_message)
Toast.makeText(
activityContext, errorMessage, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT
).show()
}

Here, you just consume the DisplayErrorMessage and use the Context you
inject to display a Toast .

An example of an effect that also generates some events is SearchTvShow . In

this case, you need an RxJava transformer, like the following you find in
ApiRequestHandlerImpl.kt.

override fun handleSearchTvShow(

request: Observable<SearchTvShow>
): Observable<TvShowEvent> =
request
.flatMap { request ->
fetchAndParseTvShowResult(request.query).fold( // 1
onSuccess = {
Observable.just(
TvSearchSuccess(it.filter(removeIncompleteFilter))
)
}, // 2

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onFailure = {
Observable.just(TvSearchFailure(it))
} // 3
)
}

Note how you:

1. Use the fetchAndParseTvShowResult you implemented in the previous

chapters.

2. Return an Observable<TvSearchSuccess> in the case of success.

3. Return an Observable<TvSearchFailure> in the case of failure.

Remember that TvSearchSuccess and TvSearchFailure are TvShowEvent s.

Mobius sends them to the Mobius loop when the effect has completed.

OK, but how do you tell Mobius what effect handler to use for every effect? In
the Raybius app, this is done in MobiusModule.kt in di with the following code:

@Provides
fun provideEffectHandler(
uiHandler: UIEffectHandler,
apiRequestHandler: ApiRequestHandler
): TvShowEffectHandler =
RxMobius.subtypeEffectHandler<TvShowEffect, TvShowEvent>()
.addTransformer(
SearchTvShow::class.java,
apiRequestHandler::handleSearchTvShow
) // 1
.addConsumer(
DisplayErrorMessage::class.java,
uiHandler::handleErrorMessage, // 2
AndroidSchedulers.mainThread()
)
.addConsumer(
HideKeyboard::class.java,
uiHandler::handleHideKeyboardMessage,
AndroidSchedulers.mainThread()
)
.build();

In this code, you bind:

1. The SearchTvShow event to the apiRequestHandler::handleSearchTvShow

function.

2. DisplayErrorMessage to uiHandler::handleErrorMessage .

Besides some implementation details you can see directly in the project or the
Mobius official documentation, this is basically all you need to design and
implement your app with Mobius. So, now it’s time to implement some code
yourself.
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Build your app

In this step, you’ll finish implementing the MoFlow table you described earlier.
It’s time for you to use Mobius to implement the feature to display TV show
details.

Implementing the TvShowDetail feature

Now, you’ll add the show detail feature. To do this, you need to:

1. Update the TvShowModel with the data you need to display the ShowDetail .

2. Create the events you need to display the ShowDetail information.

3. Define the effects you need to access the TV show detail.

4. Update the Update function (pun intended :]) to handle the new use case.

5. Implement the new effect handler.

6. Update UI-related code.

It’s time to write some code!

Model update
Open TvShowModel.kt, and add the following constructor property:

val detailResult: ShowDetail? = null

This will contain a ShowDetail , which has the detailed information for a TV
show.

Adding new events

Now, open TvShowEvent.kt, and add the following events:

data class DetailViewResumed(

val id: Int
) : TvShowEvent() // 1
data class ItemClicked(
val id: Int
) : TvShowEvent() // 2
data class TvShowDetailSuccess(
val results: ShowDetail
) : TvShowEvent() // 3
data class TvShowDetailFailure(
val ex: Throwable
) : TvShowEvent() // 4

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This allows you to:

1. Trigger the request for the TV show detail.

2. Handle the selection of an item in the list result for the first query.
3. Handle a successful response for the detail.

4. Handle errors when accessing the detail information.

Adding effects
Add new effects. Open TvShowEffect.kt, and add the following code:

data class NavigateToDetail(val showId: Int) : TvShowEffect // 1

data class GetTvShowDetail(val showId: Int) : TvShowEffect // 2

These are the effects for:

1. Navigating to the detail fragment.

2. Triggering the request to the server to get the TV show detail.

Now, you need to bind all the logic together.

Update the update function

To bind events and effects together, you need to open TvShowLogic.kt and add
the following code to the update when block:

is ItemClicked -> Next.next( // 1

model, setOf(NavigateToDetail(event.id))
)
is DetailViewResumed -> Next.next( // 2
model.copy(loading = true), setOf(GetTvShowDetail(event.id))
)
is TvShowDetailSuccess -> Next.next( // 3
model.copy(loading = false, detailResult = event.results)
)
is TvShowDetailFailure -> Next.next( // 4
model.copy(loading = false),
setOf(DisplayErrorMessage(event.ex))
)

Here, you:

1. Trigger the NavigateToDetail effect when selecting an item in the list and

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then receive an ItemClicked event.

2. Launch a GetTvShowDetail effect when the NavigateToDetail completes

and a DetailViewResumed is sent.

3. Update the TvShowModel with the detail information in the case of

TvShowDetailSuccess .

4. Display an error message triggering a DisplayErrorMessage in the case of

TvShowDetailFailure .

Now, you’ve defined some new effects and bound them to some events. At the
moment, Mobius doesn’t actually know how to execute them. It’s time to
implement the effect handlers.

Add new effect handlers

In the previous code, you defined the new NavigateToDetail and
GetTvShowDetail effects. It’s now time to tell Mobius how to execute them.
They’re both effects that need to generate some events as a result. Open
UIEffectHandler.kt, and add the following definition to the interface:

fun handleNavigateToDetail(
request: Observable<NavigateToDetail>
): Observable<TvShowEvent>

This operation defines how to execute a NavigateToDetail , generating a

TvShowEvent as result. This is the interface, and you need to provide an
implementation as well. Open UIEffectHandlerImpl.kt, and add the following
code:

override fun handleNavigateToDetail(

request: Observable<NavigateToDetail>
): Observable<TvShowEvent> = request
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.map { request ->
val activity = activityContext as AppCompatActivity
activity.supportFragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.replace(R.id.anchor, TvShowDetailFragment())
.addToBackStack("Detail")
.commit()

DetailViewResumed(request.showId)
}

Besides some implementation details related to the actual navigation, what’s

important here is the DetailViewResumed you send to the Mobius loop on the
last line. This is to notify the workflow that the effect has been executed.
Remember, this event triggers the GetTvShowDetail effect for access to the

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network to fetch the TV show details, which needs an effect handler. Open
ApiRequestHandler.kt, and add the following definition:

fun handleTvShowDetail(
request: Observable<GetTvShowDetail>
): Observable<TvShowEvent>

As before, you’re just defining the operation for an effect handler that
consumes a GetTvShowDetail and generates a TvShowEvent . For the
implementation, open ApiRequestHandlerImpl.kt, and add the following code,
which should be quite familiar:

override fun handleTvShowDetail(

request: Observable<GetTvShowDetail>
): Observable<TvShowEvent> = request
.flatMap { request ->
fetchAndParseTvShowDetailResult(request.showId).fold(
onSuccess = { Observable.just(TvShowDetailSuccess(it)) },
onFailure = { Observable.just(TvShowDetailFailure(it)) }
)
}

Now, you’ve implemented the code for the new effect handlers, but Mobius
doesn’t know about them yet. Next, open MobiusModule.kt, and add the
following transformers to provideEffectHandler below the existing
transformer:

.addTransformer(
GetTvShowDetail::class.java, // 1
apiRequestHandler::handleTvShowDetail
)
.addTransformer(
NavigateToDetail::class.java, // 2
uiHandler::handleNavigateToDetail
)

In this code, you use addTransformer to tell Mobius what effect handler to
execute for the effects:

1. GetTvShowDetail
2. NavigateToDetail

Now, you just need to update the UI logic for this new feature.

Update UI logic
You still need to do a few last things to handle user events and use the data you

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receive from the new effects. You basically need to:

Enable the selection of an item in the list.

Display ShowDetail in the TvShowDetailFragment .

Open TvSearchFragment.kt, and update the content of onCreateView to

insert this code before the return statement:

searchBinding.initUI(eventConsumer) { showId ->

eventConsumer.accept(ItemClicked(showId))
}

In this code, you use eventConsumer to send an ItemClicked event to the

Mobius loop when the user selects an item in the result list. Now, you need to
display the ShowDetail in the case of success.

Open FragmentDetailBindingExt.kt, and add the following to the bottom of

logic :

if (model.detailResult != null) { // 1
displayResult(model.detailResult) // 2
}

Here, you just:

1. Check if details are available.

2. Display them in the UI.

Now, you can build and run the app. When you select an item in the list of
results, you can see how the detail screen is displayed, like in Figure 18.10:

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Figure 18.10: The detail screen

Great job! As a last note, it’s worthwhile to have a quick look at how you set up
the Mobius loop in Android.

Mobius loop in Android

In Figure 18.1, you learned that Mobius’s architecture is based on the creation
of the Mobius loop, which is responsible for:

Delivering the events to the Update function.

Triggering the effects, invoking the configured effect handler.

Helping with concurrency in the execution of side effects.

Handling logging and monitoring.

Usually, there’s an instance of the Mobius loop per surface when a surface is
basically a screen of the app. You can decide to use a single Mobius loop or
create multiple ones depending on the dimension of the app. In the case of
Raybius, a single Mobius loop is shared between all the Fragment s through the
MainActivity class. To bind the lifecycle of the Mobius loop to the Activity
one, Mobius provides a MobiusLoop.Controller . If you look at MainActivity ,
removing the unrelated things, you’ll get the following:

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class MainActivity :
AppCompatActivity(), MobiusHost<TvShowModel, TvShowEvent> {

@Inject
lateinit var tvShowController: TvShowMobiusController // 1

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {

// ...
tvShowController.connect(::connectViews) // 2
// ...
}

override fun onResume() {

super.onResume()
tvShowController.start() // 3
}

override fun onPause() {

super.onPause()
tvShowController.stop() // 4
}

override fun onDestroy() {

super.onDestroy()
tvShowController.disconnect() // 7
}

lateinit var eventConsumer: Consumer<TvShowEvent>

private fun connectViews(

eventConsumer: Consumer<TvShowEvent>
): Connection<TvShowModel> {
this.eventConsumer = eventConsumer
return object : Connection<TvShowModel> {
override fun accept(model: TvShowModel) { // 5
logic(eventConsumer, model)
}

override fun dispose() { // 6

}
}
}

var logic: (
Consumer<TvShowEvent>, TvShowModel
) -> Unit = { _, _ -> }
override fun injectLogic(
logic: (Consumer<TvShowEvent>, TvShowModel) -> Unit
) { // 8
this.logic = logic
}
}

In this code:

1. You inject the object of type TvShowMobiusController , which is an alias for

MobiusLoop.Controller<TvShowModel, TvShowEvent> .

2. You invoke connect , passing the reference to a function of type

(Consumer<TvShowEvent>) -> Connection<TvShowModel> . This function

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returns an object of type Connection<TvShowModel> . The object
Connection<TvShowModel> needs to override accept and dispose .

3. You start the Mobius loop, invoking start on the

TvShowMobiusController . This happens in onResume .

4. You stop the Mobius loop, invoking stop on the TvShowMobiusController .

This happens in onPause .

5. accept is invoked every time the Mobius loop needs to deliver a new model.
This is where you bind the logic specific to your app.
6. dispose is invoked when you stop the loop.

7. disconnect removes the binding between the MainActivity and the

TvShowMobiusController in onDestroy .

8. This is a function each Fragment can invoke to set its specific logic. This
doesn’t allow more Fragment s to be visible at the same time, but for this
app, this is an acceptable trade-off.

Key points
Mobius is a functional reactive framework for managing state evolution and
side effects, with add-ons for connecting to Android UIs and RxJava
Observables.

Mobius emphasizes separation of concerns, testability and isolating stateful

parts of the code.

Mobius is an example of unidirectional flow architecture.

The MoFlow is a process that allows you to design your app in terms of
models, events and effects.

The model represents the current state of the UI.

You can use events to represent a user interaction or the result of an effect.
An effect is the description of a task that might change the state of the world.

Models, events and effects are immutable.

The Update function is a pure function, receiving the current model and
the event as input, and returning the new model and the optional effects.

The purity of the Update function makes it very easy to test.

An effect handler is responsible for the actual execution of an effect, and it

usually works in the background.

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Where to go from here?

Congratulations! In this chapter, you learned how the Mobius framework works
as an example of a unidirectional architecture that uses many of the principles
you learned about functional programming. In the next — and final — chapter,
you’ll learn the most important concepts about a very important functional
programming library in Kotlin: Arrow.

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19 Arrow
Written by Massimo Carli

In the previous chapters, you learned the fundamental concepts of functional

programming. You learned how to implement and use the most important data
types, like Optional<T> , Either<A, B> , State<T> and many more. Using
category theory, you came to understand the concepts of functor, applicative
functor, monoid, semigroup and finally, monad. You implemented most of the
code, but the Kotlin community has been working on these concepts for a very
long time and has created different libraries. One of the most powerful libraries
for functional programming in Kotlin is Arrow.

Note: If you want to learn all about Arrow, read Arrow’s official
documentation, which is perfectly maintained by 47 Degrees.

To cover all the features this library provides in a single chapter is impossible.
For this reason, you’ll focus on a specific problem: error handling. Using Arrow,
you’ll see how to handle errors in a functional way and learn what data types
Arrow provides. This is the Arrow solution to what you did in Chapter 14, “Error
Handling With Functional Programming”.

In particular, you’ll see:

The Option<T> data type.

How to use the nullable Arrow higher-order function to achieve monad

comprehension with nullable objects.

How to use Either<A, B> and achieve monad comprehension with

either .

What Arrow optics are and how you can use them to handle complex
immutable objects easily.

It’s time to have more fun! :]

Exceptions as side effects

In the previous chapters, you learned that exceptions aren’t a great solution in
the context of functional programming. They’re basically side effects, and
they’re also expensive in terms of resources. Just remember that when you
throw an exception, you essentially create an instance of a class that, most of

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the time, doesn’t contain all the information you need. In Java — and Kotlin —
you also have different types of exceptions that differ in name and not much
more.

To see what tools Arrow provides for handling exceptions in a functional way,
you’ll start with the same code you wrote in Chapter 14, “Error Handling With
Functional Programming”, to fetch and parse data about some TV shows. Open
the starter project in this chapter’s material, and look at the code in the tools
subpackages. In TvShowFetcher.kt in tools.fetchers, you’ll find the following
code:

object TvShowFetcher {
fun fetch(query: String): String {
val encodedUrl = java.net.URLEncoder.encode(query, "utf-8")
val localUrl =
URL("https://api.tvmaze.com/search/shows?q=$encodedUrl")
with(localUrl.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection) {
requestMethod = "GET"
val reader = inputStream.bufferedReader()
return reader.lines().toArray().asSequence()
.fold(StringBuilder()) { builder, line ->
builder.append(line)
}.toString()
}
}
}

This is quite straightforward and allows you to query the TVmaze database by
passing a string as input and getting a JSON with the response as output. Run
the previous method, executing the following main :

fun main() {
fetch("Big Bang") pipe ::println
}

As output, you’ll get a long JSON String like the following:

[{"score":1.1548387,"show":
{"id":58514,"url":"https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/58514/big-
bang","name":"Big bang","type":"Panel
Show","language":"Norwegian","genres":
["Comedy"],"status":"Ended","runtime":60,"averageRuntime":60,
// ...
canine sidekick, Lil' Louis.</p>","updated":1628627563,"_links":
{"self":
{"href":"https://api.tvmaze.com/shows/10115"},"previousepisode":
{"href":"https://api.tvmaze.com/episodes/531559"}}}}]

You can also simulate a case where something goes wrong. Disconnect your
machine from the network and run the main again — you’ll get the following

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exception:

Exception in thread "main" java.net.UnknownHostException:

api.tvmaze.com
at
java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.ja
va:196)
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:394)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:606)

What’s important here is that you have a TvShowFetcher that provides fetch
to query TVmaze about a TV show, and this can either succeed or fail.

Now, open TvShowParser.kt in tools.parser, and look at the following code:

object TvShowParser {

private val jsonConfig = Json {

ignoreUnknownKeys = true
}

/** Parses the json in input */

fun parse(json: String): List<ScoredShow> = jsonConfig
.decodeFromString<List<ScoredShow>>(
ListSerializer(ScoredShow.serializer()), json
)
}

This uses the Kotlin serialization library to parse the input JSON into a
List<ScoredShow> . It can also either succeed or fail. To test the second case,
simply run:

fun main() {
TvShowParser.parse("Invalid JSON") pipe ::println
}

And get the output:

Exception in thread "main"

kotlinx.serialization.json.internal.JsonDecodingException: Expected
start of the array '[', but had 'EOF' instead
JSON input: Invalid JSON
at
kotlinx.serialization.json.internal.JsonExceptionsKt.JsonDecodingEx
ception(JsonExceptions.kt:24)

Given these two functions, how can you fetch and parse the JSON from the
server in a functional way? You already know the answer, but it’s useful to see
what Arrow provides.

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Using Option<T>
A first possible solution to the previous problem is the Option<T> data type
Arrow provides with the core library. Find it already added it to your project
with the following definition in build.gradle:

def arrow_version = '1.0.1'

dependencies {
// ...
implementation "io.arrow-kt:arrow-core:$arrow_version"
}

Note: Notice that the name for this data type is Option<T> , not Optional<T> .

To see how this works, open TvShowOption.kt, and add the following code:

fun fetchOption(query: String): Option<String> = try { // 1

TvShowFetcher.fetch(query).some() // 2
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
none() // 3
}

fun parseOption(
json: String
): Option<List<ScoredShow>> = try { // 1
TvShowParser.parse(json).some() // 2
} catch (e: Throwable) {
none() // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define fetchOption and parseOption as Option<T> versions of

TvShowFetcher::fetch and TvShowParser::parse , respectively.

2. Invoke the related function in a try/catch block. If the invocation is

successful, you invoke the some extension function, which returns an
Option<T> , and more precisely, an instance of Some<T> .

3. In the case of an exception, return None , invoking the none extension

function.

If you look at some and none implementation, you find simple code like this:

public fun <A> A.some(): Option<A> = Some(this)

public fun <A> none(): Option<A> = None

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Where Some<T> and None are specific definitions of the sealed class
Option<T> , just as in the previous chapters. This is all quite simple.

Now, you need to fetch and parse the result while handling possible failure. You
already know how to do it. Just add the following code to the same file:

fun fetchAndParseOption(
query: StringBuilder
): Option<List<ScoredShow>> =
fetchOption(query)
.flatMap(::parseOption)

The Option<T> data type provides flatMap to compose functions the same
way you did in the previous chapters.

To test everything together, use the following code:

fun main() {
val searchResultOption = fetchAndParseOption("Big Bang") // 1
if (searchResultOption.isDefined()) { // 2
val searchResult =
searchResultOption.getOrElse { emptyList() } // 3
if (!searchResult.isEmpty()) {
searchResult.forEach { // 4
with(it.show) {
println(
"Name: ${name} Genre: ${genres.joinToString()}"
)
}
}
} else {
println("No Results!") // 5
}
} else {
println("Something went wrong!") // 6
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Invoke fetchAndParseOption , passing the String you want to search. This

will return an Option<List<ScoredShow>> .

2. Use isDefined to check if the Option<T> has a value and if it’s a Some<T>
or None .

3. Invoke getOrElse , which returns what’s in the Some<T> if present, or the

result of the lambda you pass as the parameter in the case of None . In this
case, you already know you’re in the Some<T> case, but getOrElse is the
safe way to get a value of type T in any case.

4. Check that the result isn’t empty, and display all the ScoredShow data as

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output, iterating over the resulting List<ScoredShow> .

5. Display a simple message if you get no results.

6. Print an error message if the initial result was None .

This is a pretty good solution if you’re not interested in the specific reason for
failure.

At this point, you might ask why you need Option<T> in Kotlin when you
already have the opportunity to use optional types. This is an excellent question,
and Arrow has an answer for it.

Handling null values

In the previous example, you created fetchOption and parseOption as
versions of TvShowFetcher::fetch and TvShowParser::parse , respectively,
returning an Option<T> . Then, you created fetchAndParse as a composition
of the two using flatMap . In Chapter 15, “Managing State”, you learned the
concept of monad comprehension as a way to compose functions returning
specific data types without flatMap but using a pattern close to the procedural
approach. Well, this is what Arrow provides you for nullable types.

Open TvShowNullable.kt, and write the following code:

fun fetchNullable(query: String): String? = try { // 1

TvShowFetcher.fetch(query) // 2
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
null // 3
}

fun parseNullable(json: String): List<ScoredShow>? = try { // 1

TvShowParser.parse(json) // 2
} catch (e: Throwable) {
null // 3
}

As you can see here, you:

1. Define fetchNullable and parseNullable as versions of

TvShowFetcher::fetch and TvShowParser::parse , respectively, returning
a value of the optional type.
2. Return the actual result in the case of success.

3. Return null in the case of failure.

Using the flatMap implementation you find in Nullable.kt in the lib package,
add the following:

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fun fetchAndParseNullableFlatMap(query: String) =

fetchNullable(query)
.nullableFlatMap(::parseNullable)

Just remember to import nullableFlatMap like this to avoid conflicts with

other flatMap extension functions:

import com.raywenderlich.fp.lib.flatMap as nullableFlatMap

Arrow provides you an alternative solution. In the same file, add the following
code:

suspend fun fetchAndParseNullable(

query: String
): List<ScoredShow>? = nullable {
val json = fetchNullable("Big Bang").bind()
val result = parseNullable(json).bind()
result
}

This code has a few interesting things to note:

fetchAndParseNullable is a suspendable function. This is because the

nullable function, which is suspendable, allows fetchNullable and
parseNullable to be suspendable functions as well. This is very useful,
especially if you need to access the network, like in this case, or, in general,
run tasks in a thread different from the main one.

You invoke fetchNullable and parseNullable one after the other in the
same way you would in a procedural case. The magic is provided by the
nullable function but also by the bind you invoke on the result of each
invocation. This is how Arrow handles NullableEffect<T> , which is an
Effect<T> that can result in a null value.

The result type is List<ScoredShow>? , and you explicitly wrote it in the

previous code to make this clear, but it wouldn’t have been necessary. This is
the type of the last expression you write in the body of nullable .

To test this code, add the following to the same file:

suspend fun mainWithComprehension() { // 1

val searchResultOption = fetchAndParseNullable("Big Bang") // 2
if (searchResultOption != null) {
printScoresShow(searchResultOption) // 3
} else {
println("Something went wrong!")
}
}

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Which isn’t very different from the one you would’ve executed in the case of
using flatMap , which is:

fun mainWithFlatMap() { // 1
val searchResultOption = fetchAndParseNullableFlatMap("Big Bang")
// 2
if (searchResultOption != null) {
printScoresShow(searchResultOption) // 3
} else {
println("Something went wrong!")
}
}

The differences are:

1. The one using nullable needs to be a suspendable function.

2. The function you invoke to get the optional type List<ScoredShow>? .

3. You use printScoresShow , which you find in Util.kt, to print the

List<ScoredShow> content.

Finally, run the following main . This lets you check how the two
implementations work basically the same — besides the need for a scope for the
suspendable one:

fun main() {
mainWithFlatMap()
runBlocking {
mainWithComprehension()
}
}

Which one is the best? The answer is always the same: It depends! :] If you need
to compose different functions that execute tasks in the background, the Arrow
solution is probably the best.

In both cases, you get a nullable object that doesn’t give you any information
about what happens in the case of failure. You just get null without any other
information. You’ve already met this problem in the previous chapters, and you
already have a first solution: the Either<A, B> data type.

Using Either<A, B>

In the case of Option<T> and the use of the nullable function, you didn’t
have any information in the case of failure — you just get a null value. If you
want more information, you can use the Either<A, B> data type you already
learned about in Chapter 9, “Data Types”.

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Open TvShowEither.kt, and add the following code:

fun fetchEither(
query: String
): Either<IOException, String> = try { // 1
TvShowFetcher.fetch(query).right() // 2
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
ioe.left() // 3
}

fun parseEither(
json: String
): Either<Throwable, List<ScoredShow>> = try { // 1
TvShowParser.parse(json /* + "break" */).right() // 2
} catch (e: Throwable) {
e.left() // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define fetchEither and parseEither as versions of

TvShowFetcher::fetch and TvShowParser::parse , respectively, using the
Arrow Either<A, B> implementation.

2. Use the right extension function, returning a Right<B> of the result in

the case of success. Note how Either<A, B> is right biased, which means
you conventionally use Right<B> as the success value and Left<A> for
failure. This is important in the case of composition using flatMap . Note
how the parameter for TvShowParser::parse has a commented code you
can use to simulate a failure.
3. Use the left extension function on the exception in the case of an error.

Now, add the following code to the same file:

fun fetchAndParseEither(
query: String
): Either<Throwable, List<ScoredShow>> =
fetchEither(query)
.flatMap(::parseEither)

Here, you simply use flatMap to compose the fetchEither and

parseEither using the mentioned right bias. To test this, just run the following
code:

fun main() {
fetchAndParseEither("Big Bang") // 1
.fold( // 2
ifRight = ::printScoresShow, // 3
ifLeft = ::printException // 4
)
}

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Here, you:

1. Invoke fetchAndParseEither , passing the query in input.

2. Use fold to handle success cases, the right, as well as failure cases, the left.

3. Pass the reference to printScoresShow to the ifRight parameter in the

case of Right<B> , which represents the successful case.
4. Pass the reference to printException in the case of Left<A> , which
represents the failure case.

You can now simulate the failure of fetchEither by disconnecting your

machine from the network. In that case, you’ll get:

Error api.tvmaze.com

To simulate the failure of parseEither , just remove the comments from the
code like here and, of course, restore your connection:

fun parseEither(json: String): Either<Throwable, List<ScoredShow>>

= try {
TvShowParser.parse(json + "break").right() // HERE
} catch (e: Throwable) {
e.left()
}

And you’ll get:

Error Unexpected JSON token at offset 14069: Expected EOF after

parsing, but had b instead
JSON input: .....aze.com/episodes/531559"}}}}]break

This works exactly like the Either<A, B> data type you implemented in
Chapter 9, “Data Types”, but Arrow gives you the monad comprehension power
as well. In this case, you can use the either function like this:

suspend fun fetchAndParseEitherComprehension( // 1

query: String
): Either<Throwable, List<ScoredShow>> =
either { // 2
val json = fetchEither(query).bind() // 3
val result = parseEither(json).bind() // 4
result
}

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Here, you:

1. Define fetchAndParseEitherComprehension as a suspendable function.

2. Use the either function.

3. Invoke bind on the result of fetchEither .

4. Use the result you get from fetchEither as input for parseEither and
invoke bind again.

To test this code, just repeat the previous scenarios on the following:

fun main() {
runBlocking {
fetchAndParseEitherComprehension("Big Bang")
.fold(
ifRight = ::printScoresShow,
ifLeft = ::printException
)
}
}

You can easily verify that the results will be the same.

Arrow optics
One of the most important principles in functional programming is
immutability. An object is immutable if it doesn’t change its state after
creation. A class is immutable if it doesn’t provide the operation to change the
state of its instances.

As you know, the state of an object is the set of values for all its properties.
Immutable objects have many different advantages. For instance, different
threads can safely share them without any risk of deadlock or race conditions.

Sometimes you need to “update” the state of an immutable object. Wait, what?
Well, in Chapter 18, “Mobius — A Functional Reactive Framework”, you saw that
the Update function returns the new state and an optional set of effects, given
the current state and the information about an event. Often, the new state has
different values for some properties, leaving the remaining unchanged.

To solve problems like this, Arrow provides the optics library. It’s an automatic
DSL that allows users to use dot notation when accessing, composing and
transforming deeply nested immutable data structures.

To understand how this works, open Optics.kt, and add the following code:

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val bigBangTheory =
ScoredShow(
score = 0.9096895,
Show(
id = 66,
name = "The Big Bang Theory",
genres = listOf("Comedy"),
url = "https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-big-bang-theory",
image = ShowImage(
original = "", // HERE
medium =
"https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173/43386
8.jpg"
),
summary = "<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy about
brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>",
language = "English"
)
)

Here, you just create bigBangTheory with the values you get from the TVmaze
database. To make the core more readable, you used named parameters and
made the summary shorter. Now, imagine that when you got this data, the
original version for the image wasn’t available, as you can see with the
empty value. Now that information is available, and you want to update
bigBangTheory with the new value.

A solution is the following:

val updatedBigBangTheory = bigBangTheory.copy(

show = bigBangTheory.show.copy( // 1
image = bigBangTheory.show.image?.copy( // 2
original =
"https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173/43386
8.jpg" // 3
)
)
)

In this code, you use copy to update the:

1. show property of the ScoredShow with an updated version of Show .

2. image property of the Show with an updated version of ShowImage .

3. original property with the new value.

You can check that this works by running the following code:

fun main() {
bigBangTheory pipe ::println
updatedBigBangTheory pipe ::println
}

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And check that the original property now has a value.

ScoredShow(score=0.9096895, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big Bang

Theory, genres=[Comedy], url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-
big-bang-theory, image=ShowImage(original=,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy
about brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>,
language=English))
ScoredShow(score=0.9096895, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big Bang
Theory, genres=[Comedy], url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-
big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/m
edium_portrait/173/433868.jpg,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy
about brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>,
language=English))

As mentioned, this works, but that’s a lot of code for just updating a property of
an immutable object. With Arrow, you can use lenses, which are provided with
the optics library. A lens is exactly what its name suggests. It’s a way to reach a
property that might be very deep in a hierarchy of objects and basically see it as if
it were closer.

Note: The project is already configured to use optics. Please be careful if you
want to update the library and plugin versions because they’re strictly
connected. A wrong version could cause the code to simply not work.

To use a lens, open Show.kt in model, and update all the data classes in it like
this:

@optics // 1
@Serializable
data class ScoredShow(
val score: Double,
val show: Show
) {
companion object // 2
}

@optics // 1
@Serializable
data class Show(
val id: Int,
val name: String,
val genres: List<String>,
val url: String,
val image: ShowImage?,
val summary: String?,
val language: String
) {

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companion object // 2
}

@optics // 1
@Serializable
data class ShowImage(
val original: String,
val medium: String
) {
companion object // 2
}

In this code, you:

1. Annotate each data class with @optics . This will cause the Arrow compiler
to generate all the code you need.
2. Provide a companion object to each of the @optics classes. Arrow needs
this to attach all the generated extensions functions.

Now, simply return to Optics.kt, and add the following code:

fun main() {
val updateOriginalImageLens: Optional<ScoredShow, String> =
ScoredShow.show.image.original // 1
val updatedShow =
updateOriginalImageLens.modify(bigBangTheory) { // 2

"https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173/43386
8.jpg"
}
updatedShow pipe ::println // 3
}

Note: Make sure you rebuild the project and import the generated show and
image properties to get this to compile.

Here, you:

1. Use the dot notation to get the reference of an object of type

Optional<ScoredShow, String> . This function basically allows you to go
from the original ScoredShow to the updated one in a single step. You
save it in updateOriginalImageLens . If you consider Optional<S, T> , you
can think of S as the original type and T as the type of the variable you
want to update in S .
2. Invoke modify on updateOriginalImageLens , passing the original object
and the new value of the property you want to update.
3. Finally, print the updated object, updatedShow , to verify that it actually

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worked.

Running the previous code, you’ll get:

ScoredShow(score=0.9096895, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big Bang

Theory, genres=[Comedy], url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-
big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/m
edium_portrait/173/433868.jpg,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy
about brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>,
language=English))

Note how the original property now has a value.

Arrow lenses
In the previous section, you learned that optics are basically abstractions that
help you update immutable data structures in an elegant and functional way. A
lens is an optic that can focus into a structure and get, modify or set the value
of a particular property.

In terms of functional types, you can say that a Lens<T, A> is a way to
aggregate a couple of functions:

get of type (T) -> A , which extracts the value of type A from the object
of type T .

setter of type (A) -> (T) -> T which, given a value of type A for a
property, provides the function you run to update the object of type T .

Given a Lens<T, A> , you call T the source of the lens and A its target.

Lenses can be seen as a pair of functions: a getter and a setter. A Lens<S, A>
represents a getter: get: (S) -> A, and setter: set: (A) -> (S) -> S ,
where S is the source of the lens and A is the focus or target of the lens.

Open Lens.kt, and add the following code:

val addGenreLens: Lens<ScoredShow, List<String>> = Lens( // 1

get = { scoredShow -> scoredShow.show.genres }, // 2
set = { scoredShow, newGenres ->
ScoredShow.show.genres.modify(scoredShow) { // 3
scoredShow.show.genres + newGenres
}
}
)

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In this code, you define:

1. addGenreLens as a lens of type Lens<ScoredShow, List<String>> , which

wants to allow the addition of new genres to a given ScoredShow .

2. The get function using a lambda that simply accesses and returns the value
of the genres property of the show for the ScoredShow in input.
3. The set function using a lambda receiving as input a ScoredShow and the
List<String> for the genre to append. Note how you use the lenses Arrow
already creates for you, as you learned above.

To use addGenreLens , simply add the following code to the same file:

fun main() {
addGenreLens.set(
bigBangTheory, listOf("Science", "Comic")
) pipe ::println
}

Run it, and you’ll get the following output with the new genres added:

ScoredShow(score=0.9096895, show=Show(id=66, name=The Big Bang

Theory, genres=[Comedy, Science, Comic],
url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-big-bang-theory,
image=ShowImage(original=,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy
about brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>,
language=English))

But lenses aren’t just a way to write more concise code. Suppose you want to
update the name for a given show. In the same file, add the following code:

val showLens: Lens<ScoredShow, Show> = Lens( // 1

get = { scoredShow -> scoredShow.show },
set = { scoredShow, newShow -> scoredShow.copy(show = newShow) }
)

val nameLens: Lens<Show, String> = Lens( // 2

get = { show -> show.name },
set = { show, newName -> show.copy(name = newName) }
)

Here, you define:

1. showLens as a lens to update the Show in a ScoredShow .

2. nameLens as a lens to update the name in a Show .

If you want to then update the name of a Show of a given ScoredShow , you can

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simply compose the previous lenses like this:

fun main() {
// ...
val updateName = showLens compose nameLens
updateName.modify(bigBangTheory, String::toUpperCase) pipe
::println
}

Running this code, you’ll get:

ScoredShow(score=0.9096895, show=Show(id=66, name=THE BIG BANG

THEORY, genres=[Comedy], url=https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/66/the-
big-bang-theory, image=ShowImage(original=,
medium=https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_portrait/173
/433868.jpg), summary=<p><b>The Big Bang Theory</b> is a comedy
about brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon...</p>,
language=English))

As you can see, the name is now capitalized.

Key points
Arrow is a library maintained by 47 Degrees that allows you to apply
functional programming concepts to your Kotlin code.

Arrow provides the implementation for the most important data types, like
Optional<T> , Either<A, B> , Monoid<T> and many others.

Arrow implements some extension functions, making it easier to handle

exceptions.

Using the nullable higher-order function, you can use monad

comprehension in the case of functions returning optional values.
Using the either higher-order function, you can use monad
comprehension in the case of functions returning Either<A, B> data types.
Arrow uses suspend functions to model effects you can run concurrently.
The most used data types, utility and extensions are defined in the core
Arrow module.

Using the optics library, you can generate the code for reducing boilerplate
in the case of handling immutable objects.

A lens is an abstraction that helps you access properties and create new
objects from existing immutable ones.

A lens can be composed, increasing the reusability and testability of your

code.

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Where to go from here?

Wow, congratulations! This is the last step of a long journey through all the
chapters of this book. Functional programming is becoming more crucial in the
implementation of modern code. Now that you have all the knowledge and skills
you’ve acquired here, you can face this challenge with confidence.

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

20 Conclusion
Written by Massimo Carli

Congratulations! You’ve sure come a long way from the beginning of this book.
You started with learning some of the very basic fundamentals of functional
programming, all the way to discovering how to build on those fundamentals to
manage state changes and error handling safely in your real-world applications.
That’s no small feat!

You stuck it out through some intense chapters. Maybe you read them and
reread them. Or maybe you still feel you need to read them again — that’s
completely expected, by the way. These chapters each build on each other, so
concepts you learned later in the book will help you when you return to earlier
chapters. It’s almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

We hope you’re inspired to use these functional programming concepts in your

own application, be it as small as encouraging more pure functions or a
complete functional programming overhaul. We promise that the more you use
functional programming, the more you’ll reap the benefits.

Toward the end of this book, you got a taste of how Kotlin coroutines can work
with your functional code. To continue learning about coroutines, we
recommend reading Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials. While not strictly related, if
you enjoyed this topic, you might also enjoy learning about the reactive
programming paradigm in Reactive Programming with Kotlin.

If you have any questions or comments as you work through this book, please
stop by our forums at https://forums.raywenderlich.com and look for the
particular forum category for this book.

Thank you again for purchasing this book. Your continued support is what
makes the books, tutorials, videos and other things we do at raywenderlich.com
possible. We truly appreciate it!

– The Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials team

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Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials

A Appendix A: Chapter 1
Exercise Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 1.1
Implement the function sumInRange that sums the values in a List<String>
within a given interval. The signature is:

fun sumInRange(input: List<String>, range: IntRange): Int

Exercise 1.1 solution

A possible solution is the following:

fun sumInRange(input: List<String>, range: IntRange): Int = // 1

input
.filter(::isValidNumber) // 2
.map(String::toInt) // 3
.filter { it in range } // 4
.sum() // 5

In this code, you:

1. Define the sumInRange as requested.

2. Use filter with isValidNumber , which you defined in the chapter.

3. Invoke map , passing String::toInt to covert the String to Int .

4. Use filter again, passing a lambda that checks whether the value is in the
range you pass in as input.
5. Invoke sum .

To test the previous code, run:

fun main() {
println(sumInRange(listOf("1", "10", "a", "7", "ad2", "3"),
1..5))
}

Getting:

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This is the sum of the values in List<String> that are valid Int s and in the
range 1..5 .

Exercise 1.2
Implement chrono , which accepts a function of type () -> Unit as input and
returns the time spent to run it. The signature is:

fun chrono(fn: () -> Unit): Long

Exercise 1.2 solution

A possible implementation for chrono is the following:

fun chrono(fn: () -> Unit): Long { // 1

val start = System.currentTimeMillis() // 2
fn() // 3
return System.currentTimeMillis() - start // 4
}

In this code, you:

1. Define chrono as a function accepting a lambda as an input parameter and

returning a Long .
2. Save the current time in milliseconds in the start variable.

3. Invoke the function fn you get as an input parameter.

4. Return the difference between the current time and the one in start .

One way to test this is:

fun main() {
val waitOneSec = { Thread.sleep(1000) } // 1
println(chrono(waitOneSec)) // 2
}

Here, you:

1. Define the waitOneSec lambda that waits at least 1000 milliseconds.

2. Invoke chrono , passing waitOneSec and printing the result.

When you run that code, you get something like:

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1005

Note: Even if not strictly related to functional programming, it’s useful to

mention why the result isn’t exactly 1000 . You might even get a different
result every time you run the previous main . This is due to the sleep
function of the Thread class. It asks the current thread to go to the Wait
state for 1000 milliseconds. After the 1000 milliseconds, the task may or
may not be the next to proceed. You only know that the thread will move from
the Wait state to the Runnable state. When the thread will actually continue
depends on the scheduler responsible for moving a thread from the
Runnable state to the Running one. This is why you can never get a value
less than 1000 .

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B Appendix B: Chapter 2
Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 2.1
Can you write an example of a function mapping distinct values in the domain to
non-distinct values in the range, like f(b) and f(c) in Figure 2.2?

f(a)

f(b)

f(c) a’

b’

Domain Range

Figure 2.2: A function definition

Hint: Think of a possible way to group values you get as input. A very simple
example is to return a Boolean that tells if the value in input is positive or
not.

Exercise 2.1 solution

A simple example of a function mapping distinct values in the domain to non-
distinct values in the range is:

fun isEven(x: Int): Boolean = x % 2 == 0

This function uses a modulo to determine if a number is even or not.

You can prove this by running the following code:

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fun main() {
println(isEven(2))
println(isEven(-2))
println(isEven(12))
println(isEven(18))
println(isEven(19))
println(isEven(-3))
println(isEven(1))
println(isEven(-5))
}

This is the output:

true
true
true
true
false
false
false
false

Here, distinct values for the input are mapped to the same values in the output.

As you’ll see in the rest of the book, a function mapping any type A to a
Boolean is a Predicate . You can define all the predicates using the following
typealias:

typealias Predicate<A> = Fun<A, Boolean> // (A) -> Boolean

Exercise 2.2
Can you write the inverse function of twice ? What are the domain and range
for the inverse function?

fun twice(x: Int) = 2 * x

Exercise 2.2 solution

This exercise isn’t as easy as it looks. If twice has type Fun<Int, Int> , the
inverse function should have the same type. This is because if a function has
type Fun<A,B> , the inverse should have type Fun<B,A> . You get this by
inverting the input type A with the output type B .

The following is a possible candidate as an inverse function of twice :

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fun half(x: Int) = x / 2

The half type is still Fun<Int, Int> but, because of the division between
Int values, half isn’t invertible. This breaks the following required relation:

half after twice == twice after half

The first member is OK:

half after twice == half(twice(x)) == (2 * x) / 2 == x

But the second member isn’t:

twice after half == twice(half(x)) == 2 * ( x / 2)

To prove that the last equation isn’t valid, try giving it some values for x :

x = 0 2 * (x / 2) == 2 * (0 / 2) == 2 * 0 = 0 == x
x = 1 2 * (x / 2) == 2 * (1 / 2) == 2 * 0 = 0 != x
x = 2 2 * (x / 2) == 2 * (2 / 2) == 2 * 1 = 2 == x
x = 3 2 * (x / 2) == 2 * (2 / 2) == 2 * 1 = 2 != x

As you can see, this happens because half isn’t invertible, so it can’t be the
inverse of twice . This is because if function f is the inverse of function g ,
then g must be the inverse of f . In this solution, half , seems to not work.
Seems because if you consider half to be the inverse of twice , you shouldn’t
invoke it using odd input values. This is because they wouldn’t be part of the
range of twice . To be rigorous, the type of twice is Fun<Int, EvenInt> ,
where EvenInt is the type of all the even integer numbers. In that case, the
inverse half would have the type Fun<EvenInt, Int> , and everything would
be fine.

But how can you represent the EvenInt type? All the concepts are purposely
being stressed a little bit here, but that’s the topic for Challenge 3!

It’s worth mentioning how, in practice, you usually come to compromises

defining twice like this:

fun twice(x: Double): Double = 2 * x

Now, its type is Fun<Double, Double> , and the inverse function is:

fun half(x: Double): Double = x / 2.0

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Exercise 2.3
Can you prove that using Set s as objects and “is a subset of” as morphisms results
in a category? In other words, a morphism from set A to set B would mean
that A is a subset of B . In that case, what are the initial and terminal objects?

Hint: Think of any objects in the category as a set of elements. A morphism

from A to B means that A is a subset of B . Can this help you to prove
composition, associativity and identity?

Exercise 2.3 solution

To prove some kinds of objects and morphisms define a category, you need to
prove the three fundamental properties:

Composition

Associativity

Identity

In this case, objects are sets, and morphisms define the relation of inclusion you
represent with the ⊆ symbol.

To prove composition, you need to prove that for every three sets A , B and
C , if A is a subset of B and B is a subset of C , then it’s also true that A is a
subset of C . Visualizing the relation with a Venn diagram, like in Figure 2a.1,
helps to prove composition:

C
B

Figure 2a.1: Composition of sets

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From the definition of category, to prove associativity, you need to prove that:

(h◦g)◦f = h◦(g◦f) .

A similar Venn diagram helps to prove associativity:

C
B

Figure 2a.2: Associativity of sets

Using the following morphisms:

f = A is a subset of B

g = B is a subset of C

h = C is a subset of D

You can break it down like this:

(h◦g) = B is a subset of D

(g◦f) = A is a subset of C

(h◦g)◦f = A is a subset of D

h◦(g◦f) = A is a subset of D

Identity has a simple proof because each set contains itself, so A is a subset of
A .

This proves that sets and the morphism “is a subset of” create a category.

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What about the initial and terminal objects? Again, the definition comes to the
rescue. The initial point is an object with outgoing arrows to all other objects in
the category. In terms of sets, what set is the subset of all the other sets?

The terminal object is an object with unique incoming morphisms from all
other objects in the category. What, then, is a set containing all the other sets? It
has a name: superset.

The problem, in this case, is that the superset isn’t easy to represent in practice.
Think of the set of all the subsets of integer values. This doesn’t exist because,
for any candidate you find, there’s always another one containing it with some
other integer values not included in the initial candidate. For this reason, the
category of sets and the morphism “is a subset of” doesn’t have a terminal
object. Categories using some kind of ordering relation like the one in this
exercise don’t have terminal objects.

Exercise 2.4
In this chapter, you defined after , which allows you to write expressions like:

val formatTwice = g after f

Can you write compose instead, which would allow you to implement the same
expression as:

val formatTwice = f compose g

Exercise 2.4 solution

In this case, you need to consider f as the receiver of the function and write
the following code:

inline infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, B>.compose(

crossinline g: Fun<B, C>
): Fun<A, C> =
{ a: A ->
g(this(a))
}

As you can see:

The receiver of the function is Fun<A, B> .

The parameter of compose is a function g of type Fun<B, C> .

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In the body, you invoke the f receiver first and then pass the result to the
function g .

To test compose , use the following code with twice and format , which you
created in the previous exercises.

fun main() {
val f: Fun<Int, Int> = ::twice
val g: Fun<Int, String> = ::format
val formatTwice = f compose g // HERE
println(formatTwice(37))
}

Note how the previous g after f is now f compose g .

Exercise 2.5
Can you write an example of an isomorphic function f and its inverse g and
prove they always compose to identity ?

Exercise 2.5 solution

The following is an example of a function and its inverse:

fun addOne(x: Int) = x + 1

fun removeOne(x: Int) = x - 1

To prove addOne and removeOne are the inverse of each other, you need to
prove that:

addOne after removeOne = removeOne after addOne = identity

This is equivalent to proving that:

(x - 1) + 1 = 1 + (x - 1) = x

This is identity, so addOne and removeOne are the inverse of each other.
They’re both isomorphic functions.

Challenge 1: Functions and sets

How would you represent a specific Set using a function? For instance, how
would you represent the set of even numbers with a function? After that, how

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would you print all the values in the set?

Challenge 1 solution
A Set is something more than a bunch of things because it has some
structure. An object can be in the set or not. If an object is in the Set , it must
be unique. You can’t have the same object in a Set twice.

The type for a function describing a Set is then Fun<A, Boolean> . Boolean
is an interesting type because you associate it with a set with just two elements:
true or false . A function of type Fun<A, Boolean> is a predicate, and you
can add the following definition to the Aliases.kt file in the project for this
chapter:

typealias Predicate<A> = Fun<A, Boolean>

To represent the Set of even Int numbers, write:

val evenIntSet: Predicate<Int> = { a: Int -> a % 2 == 0}

To check if a value is in the Set of even numbers, you just invoke

evenIntSet . For instance:

fun main() {
println(" 0 is even? ${evenIntSet(0)}")
println(" 9 is even? ${evenIntSet(-9)}")
println(" 10 is even? ${evenIntSet(10)}")
println(" 3 is even? ${evenIntSet(3)}")
}

Running the previous code, you’ll get:

0 is even? true
9 is even? false
10 is even? true
3 is even? false

Representing a set with a function allows you to check if a value is in the set or
not. To actually print all the values in the set, you need to scan the whole
domain and print the ones whose predicate function returns true .

For the previous example, do the following:

(Int.MIN_VALUE..Int.MAX_VALUE)
.filter(evenIntSet)
.forEach { println(it) }

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Challenge 2: Functions and set again

How would you represent the intersection and union of two sets using
functions? The intersection is the set of objects that belong to set A and set B,
and the union is the set of all objects that belong to set A or set B.

Challenge 2 solution
Suppose you have the following functions for two different sets:

/** The set of all the odd Ints */

val oddIntSet: Predicate<Int> = { a: Int -> a % 2 != 0 }

/** The set of all multiples of 37 */

val multipleOf37: Predicate<Int> = { a: Int -> a % 37 == 0 }

You would define the union like this:

/** The union of the two sets */

fun <A> union(
set1: Predicate<A>,
set2: Predicate<A>
): Predicate<A> = { a: A ->
set1(a) || set2(a)
}

And the intersection like this:

/** The intersection of the two sets */

fun <A> intersection(
set1: Predicate<A>,
set2: Predicate<A>
): Predicate<A> = { a: A ->
set1(a) && set2(a)
}

It’s interesting to note how the union and intersection sets are also
Predicate<A> , and therefore functions of the same type as the ones you had as
parameters.

You can test out your functions with the following:

val oddMultipleOf37Union =
union(oddIntSet, multipleOf37)
val oddMultipleOf37Intersection =

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intersection(oddIntSet, multipleOf37)

println("1 is in union ${oddMultipleOf37Union(1)}")

println("37 is in union ${oddMultipleOf37Union(37)}")
println("74 is in union ${oddMultipleOf37Union(74)}")
println("100 is in union ${oddMultipleOf37Union(100)}")

println("1 is in intersection ${oddMultipleOf37Intersection(1)}")

println("37 is in intersection
${oddMultipleOf37Intersection(37)}")
println("74 is in intersection
${oddMultipleOf37Intersection(74)}")
println("100 is in intersection
${oddMultipleOf37Intersection(100)}")

Challenge 3: The right domain

Consider the following function:

fun oneOver(x: Int): Double = 1.0 / x

What’s the domain and the range for this function? When you invoke
oneOver(0) , you get an exception.

How can you be sure you only pass values in the domain as an input parameter?

Challenge 3 solution
You probably know from your math in school that the function 1/x doesn’t exist
for x = 0. This means that the domain of oneOver is the set represented by all
the Int values without 0 .

The question now is: How would you represent the type of all the Int values
without 0? If the related type was NonZeroInt , the previous function would
become:

fun oneOver(x: NonZeroInt): Double = 1.0 / x

And, as said earlier, it would return a value for every input in its domain.

A possible option would be to define NonZeroInt like this:

@JvmInline
value class NonZeroInt private constructor(val value: Int) {
companion object {
operator fun invoke(value: Int): NonZeroInt? {
return when (value) {
0 -> null

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else -> NonZeroInt(value)
}
}
}
}

In this case, you can create a NonZeroInt only using a value that isn’t 0.
However, you have a problem. Try running the following code to understand
what the problem is:

fun main() {
println("1/3 = ${oneOver(NonZeroInt(3))}") // ERROR
}

This doesn’t compile because of what IntelliJ is telling you here:

2.16 - Type Mismatch. Required: NonZeroInt. Found: NonZeroInt?

oneOver is expecting a NonZeroInt and not the nullable version

NonZeroInt? . As a shortcut, you might use the !! operator. In that case, the
code compiles but throws an exception in case of 0: NonZeroInt(0) .

fun main() {
println("1/3 = ${oneOver(NonZeroInt(3)!!)}") // COMPILES
}

A better idea is moving the error to the creation of the NonZeroInt object itself,
replacing the previous implementation of NonZeroInt with:

@JvmInline
value class NonZeroInt(val value: Int) {
init {
require(value != 0) { "O is not a value for this type!" }
}
}

In this case, you can change main like this:

println("1/3 = ${oneOver(NonZeroInt(3))}")

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When you run, you get the following output:

1/3 = 0.3333333333333333

Using the following code:

println("1/3 = ${oneOver(NonZeroInt(0))}")

You’ll get the following output instead:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: O is

not a value for this type!

In both cases, as you’ll learn in the following chapters, this isn’t a very
functional way to handle this problem. One more reason to keep reading this
book! :]

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Exercise 3.1
Is inc a pure function?

var count = 0

fun inc(x: Int): Int = ++count + x

Exercise 3.1 solution

In this case, inc is not a pure function because it increments a global variable
that’s part of the external world. Incrementing count is a side effect. The
function also doesn’t return the same value with the same input value, as you
can verify by executing the following code:

fun main() {
println(inc(1))
println(inc(1))
println(inc(1))
println(inc(1))
}

Here, you invoke inc with the same value in input, but you get different values
in output, as you can see in the following logs:

2
3
4
5

Exercise 3.2
Is inc2 a pure function?

val count = 0

fun inc2(x: Int): Int = x + count + 1

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Exercise 3.2 solution

This function isn’t so obvious, but it is pure because it always returns the same
value in output for the same value in input. It uses count , which is part of the
universe, but it’s a val , so it never changes. You can see count as part of the
universe’s state but, because it’s immutable, it can’t be the consequence of any
side effect, and it wont change the output.

Exercise 3.3
Is expr3 :

val expr3 = 42
val (a1, a2) = expr3 to expr3

The same as the following?

val (a1, a2) = 42 to 42

Exercise 3.3 solution

Yes, in this case, expr2 is referentially transparent. You can prove this by
running the following code without any exceptions:

fun main() {
// Expr3 is referentially transparent, as you can see here
val expr3 = { 42 }
val (a1, a2) = expr3() to expr3()
val expr3Eval = expr3()
val (a1Eval, a2Eval) = expr3Eval to expr3Eval
assertOrThrow("expr3 is not RT") {
a1 == a1Eval && a2 == a2Eval
}
}

Additionally, expr3 doesn’t have any side effects.

Exercise 3.4
Suppose you have the following code:

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val CounterIterator = object : Iterator<Int> {

private var count = 0

override fun hasNext(): Boolean = true

override fun next(): Int = count++

}

Is the following expression referentially transparent?

val expr4 = { CounterIterator.next() }

Exercise 3.4 solution

In this case, expr4 is not referentially transparent because the expression has
a side effect.

You can prove this with the following code:

fun main() {
// Expr4 is not referentially transparent, as you can see here
val expr4 = { CounterIterator.next() }
val (a1, a2) = expr4() to expr4()
val expr4Eval = expr4()
val (a1Eval, a2Eval) = expr4Eval to expr4Eval
assertOrThrow("expr4 is not RT") {
a1 == a1Eval && a2 == a2Eval
}
}

Run the code, and you’ll get:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.AssertionError: expr4 is not

RT

Every time you evaluate expr4 , you change the internal state of
CounterIterator , which is part of the external universe and, for the same
reason, you get a different output value.

Exercise 3.5
The Writer<A, B> data type you defined earlier is a very important concept in
functional programming. If you use types as objects and the functions
Writer<A, B> as morphisms, you get a very special category: the Kleisli
category.

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Can you prove that by using types as objects and Writer<A, B> as morphisms,
you get a category?

typealias Writer<A, B> = (A) -> Pair<B, String>

Exercise 3.5 solution

In Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you learned that some objects with
arrows between them, known as morphisms, form a category if all the
following rules are true:

1. Composition

2. Associativity
3. Identity

In this exercise, you basically need to prove these rules for every type A and
every function you represent as Writer<A, B> .

Proving composition
In this case, you have to prove that for every morphism f from the objects A
to B , and g from B to C , there’s always a morphism g◦f from A to C ,
which is the composition of f with g .

You’ve actually already proved this composition in this chapter, Chapter 3,

“Functional Programming Concepts”, with the following higher-order function:

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<B, C>.after(

w: Writer<A, B>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A ->
val (b, str) = w(a)
val (c, str2) = this(b)
c to "$str\n$str2\n"
}

As you did in Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, you might also define

compose with the following code:

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<A, B>.compose(

w: Writer<B, C>
): Writer<A, C> = w after this

With these two functions, you prove composition.

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Proving associativity
To prove associativity for Writer<A, B> , you basically need to prove that:

(h after g) after f == h after (g after f)

Where:

f: Writer<A, B>
g: Writer<B, C>
h: Writer<C, D>

A possible way of doing this is applying the substitution model, but there’s a
simpler way. Look at how composition works in the previous paragraph, and
you’ll notice that associativity is true if it’s true for both the first and
second properties of the resulting Pair s of Writer s. For first , you’re
applying the normal composition of functions Fun<A, B> . For second , you’re
basically concatenating String s. Because you already know that associativity
is true for function Fun<A, B> , you basically need to also prove that String
concatenation is associative. Given three String s — str1 , str2 and str3 —
you can easily prove that:

(str1 + str2) + str3 == str1 + (str2 + str3)

This proves that, using the composition you defined in the previous paragraph,
associativity for Writer<A, B> is also true.

Proving identity
In this case, you need to prove that for every type A , there’s always a morphism
Writer<A, A> called identity id<A> , such that, for every f of type
Writer<A, B> the following is true:

f after id == id after f == f

In this chapter, Chapter 3, “Functional Programming Concepts”, you met the

function:

fun <A, B> Fun<A, B>.liftW(

log: (A, B) -> String
): Writer<A, B> =
{ a: A ->
val b = this(a)
b to log(a, b)
}

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This function suggests what the identity might be. Just imagine starting from
the identity for Fun<A, B> , which is:

fun <A> identity(a: A) = a

And apply liftW() using the empty String . What you’ll get is simply:

fun <A> id(): Writer<A, A> = { a -> a to "" }

Now, you need to prove that, whatever f of type Writer<A, B> is, the
following rule is true:

f after id == id after f == f

To prove this, you need to start with the implementation of composition for
Writer<A, B> . Then, use id<A> both as the receiver and as the parameter
w .

infix fun <A, B, C> Writer<B, C>.after(

w: Writer<A, B>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A ->
val (b, str) = w(a)
val (c, str2) = this(b)
c to "$str\n$str2\n"
}

If you want to reduce the first part, you start from:

f after id

You can write the definition of composition assuming that w is id<A> , getting:

fun <A, C> Writer<A, C>.after(): Writer<A, C> = { a: A ->

val (b, str) = id<A>()(a)
val (c, str2) = this(b)
c to "$str\n$str2\n"
}

In the above:

str = ""
b = a
c = f(b) = f(a)
"$str\n$str2\n" = "$str2\n"

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The result is then:

f(a) to "$str2\n"

Which is exactly what you’d get from f of type Writer<A, B> .

Now, you need to prove that you get the same result starting from:

id after f

Doing the same substitution, you’ll get:

infix fun <A, C> Writer<A, C>.after(

w: Writer<A, C>
): Writer<A, C> = { a: A ->
val (b, str) = w(a)
val (c, str2) = id<C>()(b)
c to "$str$str2\n"
}

Which becomes:

val (b, str) = f(a)

c = id(b) = b to "$str\n"

Which is, again, what you’d get from f .

f(a) to "$str\n"

Just note that in this case, the decoration of f is str and not str2 , like in
the previous case.

This proves that by using types as objects and Writer<A, B> as morphisms,
you get a category that’s actually very important: the Kleisli category!

Challenge 1: Pure or impure?

Is inc3 a pure function? Why or why not?

var count = 0
fun inc3(x: Int): Int {
val result = x + ++count + 1
println("Res: $result") // WHAT IF YOU REMOVE THIS?

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--count
return result
}

What if you remove the println() with the comment?

Challenge 1 solution
The answer, in this case, isn’t so obvious. Every time you invoke inc3 , you
calculate a result incrementing count , a global variable. You then print the
result and decrement the global variable count before returning the result.
println makes this function impure.

But what if you remove the println ? Is the function still impure? The function
is still impure because it changes the values of count while executing. If you
invoke another function in another thread accessing the same count variable,
a race condition might cause some unexpected results.

Challenge 2: Pure or impure?

Is output a pure function? Why or why not?

fun output(x: Int): Unit = println("x = $x")

Challenge 2 solution
This function always provides the same output, Unit , for the same input. The
problem is that it logs messages, so it has side effects. Because of this, output
is not a pure function.

Challenge 3: Pure or impure?

Is randomAdd a pure function? Why or why not?

fun randomAdd(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b + Random.nextInt()

Challenge 3 solution
This function doesn’t provide the same output for the same input values
because of the Random component. What about side effects? Even if it’s not
directly visible, this function has a side effect: It changes the state of the
Random object.

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Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 4.1
Can you write a lambda expression that calculates the distance between two
points given their coordinates, x1, y1 and x2, y2 ? The formula for the
distance between two points is distance = √(x2−x1)²+(y2−y1)² .

Exercise 4.1 solution

You can approach this problem in different ways. Assuming you pass all the
coordinates as distinct parameters, you can write the following code:

val distanceLambda = { x1: Double, y1: Double, x2: Double, y2:

Double -> // 1
val sqr1 = (x2 - x1) * (x2 - x1) // 2
val sqr2 = (y2 - y1) * (y2 - y1) // 2
Math.sqrt(sqr1 + sqr2) // 3
}

In this example, you:

1. Define a lambda expression with four Double parameters for each set of
coordinates.
2. Calculate the square of the distances between coordinates x and y .

3. Produce the final return result with the last expression of the lambda.

You can get the same result in other ways. Here’s one using the Point
typealias:

typealias Point = Pair<Double, Double>

val distanceLambdaWithPairs = { p1: Point, p2: Point ->

val sqr1 = Math.pow(p1.first - p2.first, 2.0)
val sqr2 = Math.pow(p1.second - p2.second, 2.0)
Math.sqrt(sqr1 + sqr2)
}

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You can then test your lambdas with the following code:

fun main() {
println(distanceLambda(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0))
println(distanceLambdaWithPairs(0.0 to 0.0, 1.0 to 1.0))
}

When you run, you get:

1.4142135623730951
1.4142135623730951

Exercise 4.2
What’s the type for the lambda expression you wrote in Exercise 4.1?

Exercise 4.2 solution

The type of distanceLambda is:

val distanceLambda: (Double, Double, Double, Double) -> Double

The type of distanceLambdaWithPairs is:

val distanceLambdaWithPairs: (Point, Point) -> Double

Or:

val distanceLambdaWithPairs: (Pair<Double, Double>, Pair<Double,

Double>) -> Double

Exercise 4.3
What are the types of the following lambda expressions?

val emptyLambda = {} // 1
val helloWorldLambda = { "Hello World!" } // 2
val helloLambda = { name: String -> "Hello $name!" } // 3
val nothingLambda = { TODO("Do exercise 4.3!") } // 4

Can you write an example of a lambda expression of the following type?

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typealias AbsurdType = (Nothing) -> Nothing

In this case, can you show how to invoke it?

Exercise 4.3 solution

You start by looking at:

val emptyLambda = {}

This is a lambda expression with no input parameters and no return value. Well,
that’s not quite true in Kotlin. The expression is actually returning something:
Unit . Its type is then:

val emptyLambda: () -> Unit

The type for:

val helloWorldLambda = { "Hello World!" }

Is:

val helloWorldLambda: () -> String

A little bit different is the type of:

val helloLambda = { name: String -> "Hello $name!" }

Which is:

val helloLambda: (String) -> String

Finally, you have something else a little different, like:

val nothingLambda = { TODO("Do exercise 4.3!") }

In this case, the return type is Nothing . The return type would also be
Nothing if you throw an exception. The type nothingLambda is then:

val nothingLambda: () -> Nothing

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Nothing and lambda

Given the type:

typealias AbsurdType = (Nothing) -> Nothing

You can write a function like the following:

val absurd: AbsurdType = { nothing -> throw Exception("This is

Absurd") }

As you learned in Chapter 2, “Function Fundamentals”, the problem with the

absurd lambda expression is that you need a value of type Nothing for its
invocation. You might write:

fun main() {
absurd(TODO("Invoked?"))
}

Because Kotlin uses strict evaluation, it evaluates the expression you pass as a
parameter of absurd before the absurd itself. In this case, TODO doesn’t
complete, so the absurd will never be invoked. The same happens with:

fun main() {
absurd(throw Exception("Invoked?"))
}

Now, isn’t that absurd!

Exercise 4.4
Can you implement a function simulating the short-circuit and operator with
the following signature without using && ? In other words, can you replicate the
short-circuiting behavior of left && right :

fun shortCircuitAnd(left: () -> Boolean, right: () -> Boolean):

Boolean

Can you also write a test to prove that right evaluates only if left is false?

Exercise 4.4 solution

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In Kotlin, if is an expression, so you can implement shortCircuitAnd like
this:

fun shortCircuitAnd(
left: () -> Boolean,
right: () -> Boolean
): Boolean = if (left()) {
right()
} else {
false
}

In this lambda, right will only evaluate if left is true .

To test its behavior, you can use the following main :

fun main() {
val inputValue = 2
shortCircuitAnd(
left = { println("LeftEvaluated!"); inputValue > 3 },
right = { println("RightEvaluated!"); inputValue < 10 },
)
}

Running this with inputValue = 2 , you get:

LeftEvaluated!

Change inputValue = 10 , and you get:

LeftEvaluated!
RightEvaluated!

This proves that shortCircuitAnd evaluates right only if left is true.

Exercise 4.5
Can you implement the function myLazy with the following signature, which
allows you to pass in a lambda expression and execute it just once?

fun <A: Any> myLazy(fn: () -> A): () -> A // ???

Exercise 4.5 solution

myLazy accepts a lambda expression of type () -> A as an input parameter.

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It’s also important to note that A has a constraint, which makes it non-null.
This makes the exercise a little bit easier, because you can write something like:

fun <A : Any> myLazy(fn: () -> A): () -> A {

var result: A? = null // 1
return { // 2
if (result == null) { // 3
result = fn() // 4
}
result!! // 5
}
}

In this function, you:

1. Use result as a local variable that tells you whether the lambda expression
fn has been evaluated, and the value of type A can’t be null because of the
constraint.
2. Return a lambda of the same type, () -> A , as the input parameter.

3. Check if result is null . This means fn hasn’t been evaluated yet.

4. Evaluate fn and store the value in result , which now isn’t null
anymore.

5. Return result , which is always of type A .

To test myLazy , write:

fun main() {
val myLazy = myLazy { println("I'm very lazy!"); 10 }
3.times {
println(myLazy())
}
}

Run it, and you get:

I'm very lazy!

10
10
10

This proves the lambda expression is actually evaluated only once, and the
result is simply reused.

You can remove the not nullability constraint in Challenge 4.1. See you there! :]

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Exercise 4.6
Create a function fibo returning the values of a Fibonacci sequence.
Remember, every value in a Fibonacci sequence is the sum of the previous two
elements. The first two elements are 0 and 1 . The first values are, then:

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 ...

Exercise 4.6 solution

The following is a possible implementation for the Fibonacci sequence using
lambda evaluation:

fun fibo(): () -> Int {

var first = 0
var second = 1
var count = 0
return {
val next = when (count) {
0 -> 0
1 -> 1
else -> {
val ret = first + second
first = second
second = ret
ret
}
}
count++
next
}
}

To test the previous code, you can use:

fun main() {
val fiboSeq = fibo()
10.times {
print("${fiboSeq()} ")
}
}

Run it, and you get:

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

Challenge 4.1
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In Exercise 4.5, you created myLazy , which allowed you to implement

memoization for a generic lambda expression of type ()-> A . Can you now
create myNullableLazy supporting optional types with the following signature?

fun <A> myNullableLazy(fn: () -> A?): () -> A? // ...

Challenge 4.1 solution

To remove the constraint, you just need to use an additional variable, like this:

fun <A> myNullableLazy(fn: () -> A?): () -> A? {

var evaluated = false // HERE
var result: A? = null
return { ->
if (!evaluated) {
evaluated = true
result = fn()
}
result
}
}

To test myNullableLazy , you can write:

fun main() {
val myNullableLazy: () -> Int? =
myNullableLazy { println("I'm nullable lazy!"); null }
3.times {
println(myNullableLazy())
}
}

Run it, and you get:

I'm nullable lazy!

null
null
null

Challenge 4.2
You might be aware of Euler’s number e. It’s a mathematical constant of huge
importance that you can calculate in very different ways. It’s an irrational
number like pi that can’t be represented in the form n/m . Here you’re not
required to know what it is, but you can use the following formula:

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Figure 4.2: Euler's formula

Can you create a sequence that provides the sum of the n terms of the given
formula?

Challenge 4.2 solution

A possible implementation of the Euler formula is:

fun e(): () -> Double {

var currentSum = 1.0 // 1
var n = 1

tailrec fun factorial(n: Int, tmp: Int): Int = // 2

if (n == 1) tmp else factorial(n - 1, n * tmp)

return {
currentSum += 1.0 / factorial(n++, 1).toDouble() // 3
currentSum
}
}

This basically translates the formula in Figure 4.2 into code. Here, you:

1. Initialize currentSum to the first value, which is 1 .

2. Implement factorial , which provides the factorial of a given number n . A
factorial is the product of the number from 1 to n . For example 3
factorial would be 1 * 2 * 3 .
3. Return a lambda expression of type () -> Double , updating and returning
currentSum .

Write and run the following code:

fun main() {
val e = e()
10.times {
println(e())
}
}

You get the following output:

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2.0
2.5
2.6666666666666665
2.708333333333333
2.7166666666666663
2.7180555555555554
2.7182539682539684
2.71827876984127
2.7182815255731922
2.7182818011463845

The last value is 2.7182818011463845, which is a good approximation of Euler’s

number.
Looking at the previous code, you can see an additional optimization. In fact,
you calculate the factorial every time.

Why not also make it a sequence? In this case, you can write:

fun factSeq(): () -> Int {

var partial = 1
var n = 1
return {
partial *= n++
partial
}
}

This allows you to implement e in a better way, like this:

fun fastE(): () -> Double {

var currentSum = 1.0
val fact = factSeq()
return {
currentSum += 1.0 / fact().toDouble()
currentSum
}
}

You can then write and run the following code when you use fastE instead of
e :

fun main() {
val e = fastE() // HERE
10.times {
println(e())
}
}

The output is exactly the same, just more performant:

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2.0
2.5
2.6666666666666665
2.708333333333333
2.7166666666666663
2.7180555555555554
2.7182539682539684
2.71827876984127
2.7182815255731922
2.7182818011463845

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Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 5.1
Kotlin provides you with first , which returns the first element of
Iterable<T> for which a predicate you provide as an input evaluates to true .
Remember that Iterable<T> is the abstraction of all the collections providing
an Iterator<T> implementation.

public interface Iterable<out T> {

public operator fun iterator(): Iterator<T>
}

Iterator<T> allows you to iterate over all the elements of a collection in a way
that doesn’t depend on the collection implementation itself:

public interface Iterator<out T> {

public operator fun next(): T

public operator fun hasNext(): Boolean

}

The current first signature is:

public inline fun <T> Iterable<T>.first(predicate: (T) -> Boolean):

T

Kotlin doesn’t allow you to override the current extension function on

Iterable<T> . So, how would you implement first on Array<T> ?

The current implementation of first throws an exception if the collection is

empty, so there’s no first T . How would you implement the function
firstOrNull on Array<T> returning null in such a case?

Exercise 5.1 solution

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As mentioned, Kotlin doesn’t allow you to override the extension function on
Iterable<T> so, for this exercise, you need to implement first on
Array<T> . A possible solution is:

public inline fun <T> Array<T>.first(

predicate: (T) -> Boolean
): T { // 1
for (item in this) { // 2
if (predicate(item)) { // 3
return item // 4
}
}
throw NoSuchElementException("Array contains no element matching
the predicate.") // 5
}

The code is quite simple. In it, you:

1. Define first as an extension function for Array<T> , accepting a predicate

as an input parameter and returning a value of type T .

2. Iterate over the values in Array<T> .

3. Evaluate the predicate on the current item .

4. Return the value for which predicate evaluates to true .

5. Throw a NoSuchElementException if predicate never evaluates to true .

Test first with the following code:

fun main() {
val input = arrayOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
println(input.first {
it > 3 // 1
})
println(input.first {
it > 10 // 2
})
}

When you run the previous code, you get:

4
Exception in thread "main" java.util.NoSuchElementException: Array
contains no element matching the predicate.

Note how:

1. Passing the predicate { it > 3} , you get the value 4 .

2. Using { it > 30} , you get NoSuchElementException .

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What if you don’t want to throw an exception but implement first in a more
functional way without NoSuchElementException as a side effect?

A possible solution is the following firstOrNull implementation:

public inline fun <T> Array<T>.firstOrNull(

predicate: (T) -> Boolean
): T? { // 1
for (item in this) {
if (predicate(item)) {
return item
}
}
return null // 2
}

The code isn’t very different from the first one. Here, you:

1. Have the optional T? as a return type.

2. Return null if there’s no value for the given predicate.

Test firstOrNull by running the following code:

fun main() {
val input = arrayOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
println(input.first {
it > 3
})
println(input.firstOrNull { // HERE
it > 10
})
}

In the previous code, you use firstOrNull instead of first . Run this code,
and you get:

4
null

Exercise 5.2
The command pattern is another important design pattern that defines
abstractions like Command and CommandExecutor . Command abstracts every
possible operation that CommandExecutor can run. In other words, a Command
represents a task and you can pass a Command to a CommandExecutor to run it.
How would you represent them in a functional way?

Optionally, can you also provide a way to “redo” the most recent Command ?

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Exercise 5.2 solution

Command is basically a way to abstract the concept of a task. To represent it in a
functional way, write:

typealias Command = () -> Unit

CommandExecutor is the component responsible for the execution of Command .

A simple way to represent it is:

typealias CommandExecutor = (Command) -> Unit

You can create a possible implementation like the following:

class MyCommandExecutor : CommandExecutor { // 1

val commandHistory = mutableListOf<Command>() // 2

override fun invoke(command: Command) { // 3

command.run {
commandHistory.add(this)
this()
}
}

fun redo() { // 4
commandHistory.lastOrNull()?.let {
it()
}
}
}

In the previous code, you:

1. Define MyCommandExecutor as an implementation of CommandExecutor .

2. Initialize commandHistory , which will contain the history of all the

commands you execute. This isn’t necessary, but usually, the command
pattern allows you to run Command multiple times.

3. Override invoke , passing Command as a parameter. In the body, you simply

invoke Command after saving its reference in commandHistory .

4. Provide redo() as a chance to execute the last command again.

Usually, the command pattern also allows you to undo Command s, but that’s out
of the scope of this book.

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Exercise 5.3
Can you implement the following Reader interface as a functional interface?
How would you test it?

interface Reader {
fun readChar(): Char?
fun readString(): String {
TODO("Call readChar() until it returns null")
}
}

Exercise 5.3 solution

The TODO in the problem description’s code gives you a hint about a possible
solution. One option is the following:

fun interface Reader {

fun readChar(): Char?
fun readString(): String {
val result = StringBuilder()
do {
val nextChar = readChar()
if (nextChar != null) {
result.append(nextChar)
}
} while (nextChar != null)
return result.toString()
}
}

In this code, you’re basically implementing readString using StringBuilder

appending Char , which you get from readChar until you get null . In that
case, you return what’s in StringBuilder by invoking toString .

So far, so good! But how do you test it? Does making Reader a functional
interface help? Actually, it doesn’t.

To test Reader , use the following implementation:

class MyReader(val str: String) : Reader { // 1

var pos = 0 // 2
override fun readChar(): Char? =
if (pos < str.length) str[pos++] else null // 3
}

Here, you:

1. Create MyReader as a simple implementation of Reader , receiving String

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as an input parameter.

2. Initialize pos to 0 , which is the position of the first Char you want to
return from readChar .

3. Check if pos is in the boundary of the String provided as input. If so, you
return the Char in it and increment pos . Otherwise, you return null .

To test how this works, just run the following code:

fun main() {
val input = MyReader("This is a String!")
println(input.readString())
}

Getting:

This is a String!

The initial question remains: What advantage do you have by making Reader a
functional interface? It gives you two advantages:

1. You can use the handy Type { /* lambda */} syntax.

2. You can pass a Reader implementation instance using a simple lambda
expression as an input parameter of another function. In that case, Kotlin
would infer the right type.

You could test the first case with the following code:

fun main() {
val inputString = "This is a String!"
var pos = 0
val input = Reader {
if (pos < inputString.length) inputString[pos++] else null
}
println(input.readString())
}

In this case, the Reader implementation captures the value of pos , which
basically represents its own state. What if you had the following code instead?

fun main() {
val inputString = "This is a String!"
var pos = 0
val input = Reader {
if (pos < inputString.length) inputString[pos++] else null
}
val input2 = Reader {
if (pos < inputString.length) inputString[pos++] else null

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}
println(input.readString())
println(input2.readString())
}

Only the first println would actually print something. To make things work,
you’d need a second variable for the state of Reader for input2 , like this:

fun main() {
val inputString = "This is a String!"
var pos = 0
var pos2 = 0
val input = Reader {
if (pos < inputString.length) inputString[pos++] else null
}
val input2 = Reader {
if (pos2 < inputString.length) inputString[pos2++] else null
}
println(input.readString())
println(input2.readString())
}

This method is confusing and error-prone.

You’d have the same problem, even if you pass Reader as an input parameter
of another function, like this:

fun consumeReader(reader: Reader) {

println(reader.readString())
}

fun main() {
var pos = 0
val inputString = "This is a String!"
consumeReader({
if (pos < inputString.length) inputString[pos++] else null
})
}

The only advantage here is that you don’t need to specify the Reader type
before the lambda because the Kotlin compiler infers it for you.

So, what’s the lesson here? As you learned in the chapter, typealias allows
you to give a name to an existing type. In the case of function types, you can
assume they already exist somewhere, and typealias is a tool to reduce the
quantity of code you have to write, especially for generic types. Types like (T)->
Boolean , (T,T) -> T and so on already exist, even if you don’t declare them
explicitly.

The type you define using a functional interface is a new type, and the
implementations must specify the name explicitly. They don’t exist before that,

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even if they basically define an existing type. As proved in the chapter, consider
the functional interface:

fun interface SinglePredicate<T> {

fun accept(value: T): Boolean
}

This is basically equivalent to (T)-> Boolean , but it’s a completely different

type. The extension function you define for SinglePredicate<T> doesn’t work
for (T)-> Boolean , and vice versa. If you have a parameter of type
SinglePredicate<T> , you can’t pass a lambda expression of type (T)->
Boolean .

As a last note, remember that typealias es aren’t visible from Java, but
functional interfaces are.

Exercise 5.4
Implement an extension function isEqualsPredicate on the generic type T
that returns a predicate that tests if a given value is equal to the same T . The
signature should be the following:

fun <T> T.isEqualsPredicate(): (T) -> Boolean //

How would the same function be different if you use the following functional
interface?

fun interface SinglePredicate<T> {

fun accept(other: T): Boolean
}

Exercise 5.4 solution

A possible solution to the initial problem is the following:

fun <T> T.isEqualsPredicate(): (T) -> Boolean =

{ value -> this == value }

Test this with the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8)
.filter(4.isEqualsPredicate())
.forEach(::println)
}

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Run it, and you get:

4
4

If you use the functional interface SinglePredicate<T> , you have:

fun <T> T.isEqualsIPredicate(): SinglePredicate<T> =

SinglePredicate<T> { value -> this == value }

Note how the name of the extension function isn’t isEqualsPredicate . This
avoids conflicts with the previous one because they’re both acting on the same
receiver, T , and not because of the different return type.

Exercise 5.5
Can you implement the same logic for implementing the example in the
Imperative vs. declarative approach section using the definitions of
Predicate1<T> and filterWithPredicate ? Given a list of email addresses,
you need to:

Filter the valid email addresses.

Filter the email addresses with the right length.

Take the first five of them.

Exercise 5.5 solution

Using the definitions of Predicate1<T> and filterWithPredicate you have in
Predicates.kt and what’s in Imperative.kt and Declarative.kt, you can write:

val isValidEmail: Predicate1<String> = // 1

Predicate1 { value -> EMAIL_REG_EX.matches(value) }

fun isLongerThan(length: Int): Predicate1<String> = // 2

Predicate1 { value -> value.length > length }

fun main() {
emails
.filterWithPredicate(isValidEmail and isLongerThan(10)) // 3
.take(5) // 4
.forEach(::println) // 5
}

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In this code, you:

1. Define isValidEmail as a Predicate1<String> that checks the validity of

email addresses.
2. Create isLongerThan as a function returning a Predicate1<String> that
checks the length of String .
3. Use filterWithPredicate , passing in as input the logic and between
isValidEmail and isLongerThan .

4. Take the first 5 successful email addresses.

5. Print the result.

Running the previous code, you get:

email@emmmaail.com
mike@mcarli.it
first.second@ggg.com
test@test.co.uk
fp_is_great@funprog.com

Challenge 5.1: Mapping is important

In the chapter, you learned how to implement different types of higher-order
functions, and in the next chapter, you’ll see many more. A very important one
is called map . This is a function that applies a given function fn of type (A) -
> B to all the elements of a collection of items of type A , getting a collection of
items of type B .

Can you implement the function map for the Array<A> type with the following
signature?

fun <A, B> Array<A>.map(fn: (A) -> B): Array<B>

When you run this code:

fun main() {
val square = { a: Int -> a * a }
val toString = { a: Int -> "This is $a" }
arrayOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(square)
.forEach(::println)
arrayOf(1, 2, 3)
.map(toString)
.forEach(::println)
}

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You should get:

1
4
9
This is 1
This is 2
This is 3

Challenge 5.1 solution

A possible implementation of map for Array<A> is the following:

inline fun <A, reified B> Array<A>.map(fn: (A) -> B): Array<B> =
Array(this.size) { fn(this[it]) }

This simply uses the constructor for Array to initialize all the values after
applying fn to all the elements in the original array.

Note the use of reified for the type B . This is because the Kotlin compiler
needs to retain some information about the type B to properly initialize
Array in output.

Running main in the challenge, you get the expected output:

1
4
9
This is 1
This is 2
This is 3

Challenge 5.2: Prime number ltering

Write a higher-order function all returning a new array containing all the
values in an Array<T> for which a given Predicate1<T> is true. You can find
the Predicate1<T> definition in Predicates.kt.

fun <T> Array<T>.all(predicate: Predicate1<T>) : Array<T>

Then, use it to return all the positive prime values in Array<Int> . A number is
prime if it’s not evenly divisible with any number other than 1 and itself.

Challenge 5.2 solution

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You can implement all in many different ways. One of them is:

inline fun <reified T> Array<T>.all(

predicate: Predicate1<T>
): Array<T> = filter { predicate.accept(it) }.toTypedArray()

You leverage the existing filter , adapting Predicate1<T> to the type (T) ->
Boolean it requires. Then, you use toTypedArray() to make the List<T> an
Array<T> . This requires more type information and is the reason for the
reified keyword.

The following is a possible implementation of Predicate1<Int> testing if a

given Int is a prime number:

val isPrime = Predicate1<Int> { value ->

if (value <= 3) value > 1
else if (value % 2 == 0 || value % 3 == 0) false
else {
var i = 5
while (i * i <= value) {
if (value % i == 0 || value % (i + 2) == 0)
return@Predicate1 false
i += 6
}
true
}
}

This predicate tests if the Int is a prime number or not.

Finally, you can test it with:

fun main() {
arrayOf(1, 45, 67, 78, 34, 56, 89, 121, 2, 11, 12, 13)
.all(isPrime)
.forEach(::println)
}

Running the previous code, you get:

89
2
11
13

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F Appendix F: Chapter 6
Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 6.1
In this section, you learned it’s useful to avoid creating multiple instances of
immutable classes because they represent the same value. Given the following
immutable class Id :

class Id(val id: Int)

How would you change it to prevent any client from creating multiple instances
of Id for the same id ?

When you run this code:

fun main() {
val id1 = // Create Id for id = 1
val id2 = // Create Id for id = 1
val id3 = // Create Id for id = 2
val id4 = // Create Id for id = 2
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id3}")
println("${id3 === id4}")
}

You get:

true
true
false
true

Exercise 6.1 solution

In Effective Java — the book by Joshua Bloch mentioned earlier in the chapter —
“Item 1” states: “Consider using static factory methods instead of
constructors”. This is because they allow you to control the way an instance of a

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class is created. In this case, “controlling” means:

Deciding whether or not to allow the creation.

Returning instances of different classes depending on some criteria. For

example, returning a different implementation of the sort algorithm
depending on the number of items.

Reusing the same instance if it’s an option.

The last point is the one you’ll use to do the exercise. Consider, for instance, the
following code:

class Id private constructor(val id: Int) { // 1

companion object { // 2
private val ids = mutableMapOf<Int, Id>() // 3
fun of(id: Int): Id { // 4
var existingId = ids[id]
if (existingId == null) { // 5
existingId = Id(id)
ids[id] = existingId
}
return existingId // 6
}
}
}

In this code, you:

1. Define a class Id with a private constructor. With this, no client can directly
create an instance of Id — only a method of the same Id class can.

2. Create a companion object so you can invoke the factory method without an
instance of Id .

3. Define ids as a MutableMap<Int, Id> to store all the Id instances you

create for a given id .
4. Implement the static factory method of , which allows you to create an
instance of Id using the simple instance Id.of(1) .
5. Check if you already have an instance of Id for a given id . If you don’t
have an existing Id for the given id , you create a new one and save it in
ids .

6. Return the new or recycled Id .

The main in the exercise becomes:

fun main() {
val id1 = Id.of(1)
val id2 = Id.of(1)
val id3 = Id.of(2)

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val id4 = Id.of(2)
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id2}")
println("${id1 === id3}")
println("${id3 === id4}")
}

Run it, and you get what you expect:

true
true
false
true

Exercise 6.2
What happens if the Id class in Exercise 6.1 is a data class?

Exercise 6.2 solution

To see what happens when Id is a data class, you just need to add data to the
class declaration:

data class Id private constructor(val id: Int) {

// ...
}

This compiles fine but, if you look carefully, IntelliJ gives you the warning in
Figure 6a.1:

Figure 6a.1: Private primary constructor is exposed via the generated 'copy()' method of a
'data' class.

This means that with data classes, you can always create a copy of a class
through the copy method. It’s also important to note how the value you get
with copy is an object with its own identity.

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You can prove this by running the following code:

fun main() {
val id1 = Id.of(1)
val id2 = id1.copy()
println("${id1 == id2}") // 1
println("${id1 === id2}") // 2
}

The output is:

true
false

The value you get with copy is:

1. Structurally equal to the original one.

2. Referentially equal to the original one.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to fix this. To understand why, look at

the decompiled code:

public final class Id {

// ...
private Id(int id) { // 1
this.id = id;
}

@NotNull
public final Id copy(int id) { // 2
return new Id(id);
}

// $FF: synthetic method

public static Id copy$default(Id var0, int var1, int var2,
Object var3) {
if ((var2 & 1) != 0) {
var1 = var0.id;
}

return var0.copy(var1);
}
// ...
}

In this code, note that the:

1. Id constructor is private .
2. copy invokes the Id constructor, making de facto public.

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The potential Kotlin value classes should solve these kinds of problems.

Exercise 6.3
The Tower of Hanoi is a classic example of a recursive function. It is a famous
game consisting of three rods and a set of n disks of different radii. At the
beginning, all the disks are stacked on the first rod. You need to move all the
disks from the first rod to the third, following some rules.

Tower 1 Tower 2 Tower 3

Figure 6a.2: Hanoi Towers

Only one disk may be moved at a time.

Each move consists of taking the top disk from one of the stacks and placing
it on top of another stack or on an empty rod.
No disk may be placed on top of a disk that’s smaller than it.

Can you implement this in Kotlin?

Exercise 6.3 solution

To solve this problem, remember that:

1. You have three rods.

2. You must follow the rules for moving each disk.

3. When moving disks from rod 1 to rod 3 , you can use rod 2 as an
intermediate step.
4. For moving n disks from rod 1 to rod 3 , you need to move n-1 disks
from rod 1 to rod 2 using rod 3 . Then, move the remaining from rod
1 to rod 3 . Finally, you move the remaining n-1 from rod 2 to rod 3
using rod 1 . You can see a visualization for this on Wikipedia.

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Following these steps, you end up writing code like this:

fun moveDisk(disks: Int, from: Int, to: Int, using: Int) {

if (disks > 0) {
moveDisk(disks - 1, from, using, to)
println("Moving $disks from $from to $to")
moveDisk(disks - 1, using, to, from)
}
}

In this code, you represent the number of disks with a number, as well as each
rod. The parameters include what disk you’re currently trying to move, the rod
you’re moving from, the rod you’re moving to, and the rod you’re using as the
intermediary.

You recursively start by moving the disks above the current one from the from
rod to the using rod. You can then move them from the using rod to the to
rod and work your way down the stack.

To test this, run:

fun main() {
moveDisk(disks = 4, from = 1, to = 3, using = 2)
}

The output is:

Moving 1 from 1 to 2
Moving 2 from 1 to 3
Moving 1 from 2 to 3
Moving 3 from 1 to 2
Moving 1 from 3 to 1
Moving 2 from 3 to 2
Moving 1 from 1 to 2
Moving 4 from 1 to 3
Moving 1 from 2 to 3
Moving 2 from 2 to 1
Moving 1 from 3 to 1
Moving 3 from 2 to 3
Moving 1 from 1 to 2
Moving 2 from 1 to 3
Moving 1 from 2 to 3

You can change the number of disks as well and watch the result.

Exercise 6.4
Tail-recursive functions usually provide better performance. Can you prove this
using the chrono function in Util.kt?

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/** Utility that measures the time for executing a lambda N times
*/
fun chrono(times: Int = 1, fn: () -> Unit): Long {
val start = System.nanoTime()
(1..times).forEach({ fn() })
return System.nanoTime() - start
}

Exercise 6.4 solution

In the chapter, you encountered different recursive implementations for the
factorial of a number n :

fun recursiveFactorial(n: Int): Int = when (n) { // 1

1 -> 1
else -> n * recursiveFactorial(n - 1)
}

tailrec fun tailRecFactorial(n: Int, fact: Int = 1): Int = when (n)
{ // 2
1 -> fact
else -> tailRecFactorial(n - 1, n * fact)
}

These are:

1. Recursive, but not a tail-recursive implementation recursiveFactorial .

2. A tail-recursive implementation tailRecFactorial using the tailrec

keyword.

For the sake of this exercise, you also create noTailRecFactorial as a version
of tailRecFactorial but without the tailrec keyword:

fun noTailRecFactorial(n: Int, fact: Int = 1): Int = when (n) { //

2
1 -> fact
else -> noTailRecFactorial(n - 1, n * fact)
}

To measure the performance of the three different implementations, run the

following code:

fun main() {
val times = 1000000
println("recursiveFactorial ${chrono(times) {
recursiveFactorial(50)
}}") // 1
println("tailRecFactorial ${chrono(times) {
tailRecFactorial(50)

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}}") // 2
println("noTailRecFactorial ${chrono(times) {
noTailRecFactorial(50)
}}") // 3
}

The output will be something like:

recursiveFactorial 92446751
tailRecFactorial 8587841
noTailRecFactorial 50125777

Of course, your values will probably be different, but what matters here is the
comparison. As you can see:

recursiveFactorial is the slowest.

tailRecFactorial is the fastest.

noTailRecFactorial is faster than recursiveFactorial but slower than

tailRecFactorial .

This suggests that tail-recursive implementations, when possible, are the best in
terms of performance.

Challenge 6.1: Immutability and recursion

In “Immutability and recursion”, you implemented recAddMulti5 as a
recursive function. Is the loop internal function tail recursive?

Challenge 6.1 solution

Yes, you can write recAddMulti5 like this, adding tailrec to loop :

fun recAddMulti5(list: List<Int>): Int {

tailrec fun loop(i: Int, sum: Int): Int = when { // HERE
i == list.size -> sum
list[i] % 5 == 0 -> loop(i + 1, sum + list[i])
else -> loop(i + 1, sum)
}
return loop(0, 0)
}

fun main() {
val list = listOf(1, 5, 10, 12, 34, 55, 80, 23, 35, 12, 80)
println(recAddMulti5(list))
}

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Challenge 6.2: Tail-recursive Fibonacci

Fibonacci is one of the most famous sequences you can implement using
recursion. Remember, the n th Fibonacci number is the sum of the two
previous Fibonacci numbers, starting with 0, 1, 1... . Can you implement it
as a tail-recursive function? Can you prove the tail-recursive function has
better performance than the non-tail-recursive companion?

Challenge 6.2 solution

You can implement a function that provides the n th value in the Fibonacci
sequence with a tail-recursive function like this:

tailrec fun tailRecFib(n: Int, a: Int = 0, b: Int = 1): Int = when

(n) {
0 -> a
1 -> b
else -> tailRecFib(n - 1, b, a + b)
}

The non-tail-recursive version is:

fun noTailRecFib(n: Int): Int = when (n) {

0 -> 0
1 -> 1
else -> noTailRecFib(n - 1) + noTailRecFib(n - 2)
}

To compare the performance of the two implementations, run the following

code:

fun main() {
println(chrono {
noTailRecFib(40) // 1
})
println(chrono {
tailRecFib(40) // 2
})
}

The output will be something like:

527457813 // 1
12316 // 2

This proves huge performance improvements when using tail-recursive

functions.

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G Appendix G: Chapter 7
Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 7.1
Implement the extension function isEmpty() , which returns true if
FList<T> is empty and false otherwise.

Exercise 7.1 solution

You can solve this exercise a few different ways. The first uses what you
implemented in the chapter and the size function.

fun <T> FList<T>.isEmpty(): Boolean = size() == 0

Here, you just return true if the size is 0 and false otherwise.

Another solution uses the same size logic like this:

fun <T> FList<T>.isEmpty(): Boolean = match(

whenNil = { true },
whenCons = { _, _ -> false }
)

Here, you simply return:

1. true if the receiver is Nil .

2. false if the receiver is FCons<T> .

Verify the usage by running the following code:

fun main() {
println(FList.empty<Int>().isEmpty())
println(FList.of(1).isEmpty())
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3).isEmpty())
}

And you get the following output:

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true
false
false

Exercise 7.2
Implement the extension function tail() , which returns the tail of a given
FList<T> .

Exercise 7.2 solution

You can easily implement the tail function like this:

fun <T> FList<T>.tail(): FList<T> = match(

whenNil = { FList.empty() },
whenCons = { _, tail -> tail }
)

In this case, you simply return:

1. The empty list List.empty() if the receiver is Nil .

2. The tail property if the receiver is FCons<T> .

Verify the usage by running the following code:

fun main() {
println(FList.empty<Int>().tail())
println(FList.of(1).tail())
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3).tail())
}

You’ll get something similar to the following output:

com.raywenderlich.fp.Nil@27c170f0
com.raywenderlich.fp.Nil@27c170f0
FCons(head=2, tail=FCons(head=3,
tail=com.raywenderlich.fp.Nil@27c170f0))

Exercise 7.3
Kotlin provides forEachIndexed for the Iterable<T> interface, which accepts
as input a lambda of type (Int, T) -> Unit . The first Int parameter is the
index of the item T in the collection. To test forEachIndexed , run the code:

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listOf("a", "b", "c").forEachIndexed { index, item ->
println("$index $item")
}

Getting the following output:

0 a
1 b
2 c

Can you implement the same for FList<T> ?

Exercise 7.3 solution

The solution, in this case, is a little more complicated because you need to keep
track of the index for the current element. The following implementation is a
possible option:

fun <T> FList<T>.forEachIndexed(fn: (Int, T) -> Unit) { // 1

fun FList<T>.loop(i: Int = 0): Unit = match( // 2

whenNil = {}, // 3
whenCons = { head, tail ->
fn(i, head) // 4
tail.loop(i + 1) // 5
}
)

loop() // 6
}

In this code, you:

1. Define forEachIndexed as an extension function for FList<T> , accepting a

lambda of type (Int, T) -> Unit as input.

2. Implement loop as an internal extension function that takes the current

element’s index as input. The default value for the index i is 0 .

3. Do nothing if the receiver is Nil because you completed the iteration on the
list.
4. Evaluate the input lambda fn , passing the current index and the current
element otherwise.

5. Invoke the same forEachIndexed on tail , passing the next index value as
input.

6. Invoke loop , using its default input parameter, 0 , to start the iteration.

When you run this code:

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fun main() {
FList.of("a", "b", "c").forEachIndexed { index, item ->
println("$index $item")
}
}

You’ll get the following output:

0 a
1 b
2 c

Exercise 7.4
Another option to implement forEachIndexed is to make FList<T> an
Iterable<T> . How would you do that? To make all the code coexist in the same
codebase, call the Iterable<T> version IFList<T> with INil and
ICons<T> .

Exercise 7.4 solution

As mentioned in the problem statement, start the exercise with the existing
FList<T> definition in FList.kt and rename it in IFList<T> along with INil
and ICons<T> . A possible solution could be:

sealed class IFList<out T> : Iterable<T> { // 1

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <T> of(vararg items: T): IFList<T> {
val tail = items.sliceArray(1 until items.size)
return if (items.isEmpty()) {
empty()
} else {
ICons(items[0], of(*tail))
}
}

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): IFList<T> = INil
}
}

private object INil : IFList<Nothing>() { // 2

override fun iterator(): Iterator<Nothing> =
object : Iterator<Nothing> {
override fun hasNext(): Boolean = false
override fun next(): Nothing =
throw NoSuchElementException()
}

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}

private data class ICons<T>(

val head: T,
val tail: IFList<T> = INil
) : IFList<T>() {

override fun iterator(): Iterator<T> =

object : Iterator<T> { // 3
var current: IFList<T> = this@ICons // 4
override fun hasNext(): Boolean = current is ICons<T> // 5

override fun next(): T {

val asICons = current as? ICons<T> ?:
throw NoSuchElementException() // 6
current = asICons.tail // 7
return asICons.head // 8
}
}
}

In this code, after copying the content of FList.kt and renaming FList<T> to
IFList<T> , Nil to INil and FCons<T> to ICons<T> , you:

1. Make IFList<T> implement Iterable<T> . This requires you to implement

iterator in both INil and IFList<T> .

2. Implement Iterable<Nothing> in INil . Here, the list is empty, so

hasNext always returns false and next throws a
NoSuchElementException .

3. Make ICons<T> implement Iterator<T> , which requires some state.

4. Define current as the current state of the iterator, pointing initially to the
ICons<T> receiver itself.

5. Implement hasNext , checking whether the current element is an

ICons<T> . In this case, it has something to iterate over. Otherwise, it’s Nil ,
so there’s nothing more.

6. Access the current element in next , casting it to ICons<T> . Usually, clients

invoke next after hasNext , so you’re assuming the cast will be successful.
If this isn’t true, you throw another NoSuchElementException . Save the
value in the local constant asICons .

7. Move the cursor ahead, assigning the value of tail to current .

8. Return the value of asICons .

Now, test the code by running this:

fun main() {
IFList.of(1, 2, 3).forEach {
println(it)
}
}

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You then get the following output:

1
2
3

Exercise 7.5
Implement addHead , which adds a new element at the head of an existing
FList<T> .

Exercise 7.5 solution

The addHead function is very simple:

fun <T> FList<T>.addHead(newItem: T): FList<T> =

FCons(newItem, this)

You just create a new FCons<T> object by passing the new value as head and
using the current receiver as the tail .

To test the previous code, run:

fun main() {
val initialList = FList.of(1, 2)
val addedList = initialList.addHead(0)
initialList.forEach {
print("$it ")
}
println()
addedList.forEach {
print("$it ")
}
}

You’ll get the output:

1 2
0 1 2

Exercise 7.6
Kotlin defines the take function on Iterable<T> that allows you to keep a

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given number of elements.

For instance, running the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
.take(3)
.forEach { print("$it ") }

You’d get:

1 2 3

Can you implement the same take function for FList<T> ?

Exercise 7.6 solution

A possible implementation of the take function for FList<T> is the following:

fun <T> FList<T>.take(n: Int): FList<T> = match( // 1

whenNil = { FList.empty() }, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail ->
if (n > 0) {
FCons(head, tail.take(n - 1)) // 3
} else {
FList.empty() // 4
}
}
)

In this code, you:

1. Define take using match .

2. Return the empty list if the receiver is Nil .

3. Check the parameter n that indicates how many elements you have to take.
If this isn’t 0 , you return a new FList<T> containing the head and, as the
tail , what you get invoking take for n - 1 elements.

4. Return no more elements if n is 0 .

Test the solution by running this code:

fun main() {
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.take(0) // 1
.forEach { print("$it ") }
println()
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

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.take(1) // 2
.forEach { print("$it ") }
println()
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.take(5) // 3
.forEach { print("$it ") }
println()
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.take(6) // 4
.forEach { print("$it ") }
}

The output is:

// 1
1 // 2
1 2 3 4 5 // 3
1 2 3 4 5 // 4

These are the values for:

1. take(0) .

2. take(1) .

3. Taking all the elements in FList<T> .

4. Taking more elements than the available ones.

Exercise 7.7
Kotlin defines the takeLast function on Iterable<T> that allows you to keep
a given number of elements at the end of the collection. For instance, running
the following code:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
.takeLast(3)
.forEach { print("$it ") }

You’d get:

8 9 10

Can you implement the same takeLast function for FList<T> ?

Exercise 7.7 solution

This exercise is a little more complicated than the previous one. A first

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implementation could be the following:

fun <T> FList<T>.takeLast(n: Int): FList<T> = match( // 1

whenNil = { FList.empty() }, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail ->
if (tail.size() >= n) {
tail.takeLast(n) // 3
} else {
FCons(head, tail) // 4
}
}
)

Here, you:

1. Define takeLast as an extension function of FList<T> , accepting an input

parameter n of type Int representing the number of elements you want to
take at the end of the list.
2. Return the empty list if the receiver is Nil .

3. Check the value of n . If it’s greater than the current size , you return the
result of invoking takeLast on the tail . This is because it means you still
have elements to skip at the beginning of the list.

4. Return a new FCons<T> using the current head and tail if the size is
equal to or smaller than n .

Run this code to test the previous code:

fun main() {
(0..6).forEach {
println("takeLast $it")
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.takeLast(it)
.forEach { print("$it ") }
println()
}
}

It allows you to test takeLast with different values for the size of the input. You
get:

takeLast 0

takeLast 1
5
takeLast 2
4 5
takeLast 3
3 4 5
takeLast 4
2 3 4 5

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takeLast 5
1 2 3 4 5
takeLast 6
1 2 3 4 5

The previous code is simple, but it uses the function size you implemented in
the chapter, which has complexity O(N). This makes the complexity of
takeList O(N^2). The usual question is: Can you do better? Of course you can!

Look at takeLast as another way to say:

1. Your Flist<T> has length M .

2. You need to keep n elements.

3. So, just return what you have when you skip M-n elements.

Following this idea, you could implement the skip function like this:

fun <T> FList<T>.skip(n: Int): FList<T> = match( // 1

whenNil = { FList.empty() }, // 2
whenCons = { head, tail ->
if (n > 0) {
tail.skip(n - 1) // 3
} else {
FCons(head, tail) // 4
}
}
)

Here, you:

1. Define skip as an extension function of FList<T> , accepting an input

parameter n of type Int representing the number of elements you want to
skip at the beginning of the list.
2. Return the empty list if the current receiver is Nil .
3. Invoke skip on the tail , passing n - 1 as parameter value if there are
other values to skip.
4. Return the current receiver if there’s nothing else to skip. This happens
when n <=0 .

Again, run the following code to test the behavior of skip :

fun main() {
// ...
(0..6).forEach {
println("Skipping $it")
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.skip(it)
.forEach { print("$it ") }

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println()
}
}

You get:

Skipping 0
1 2 3 4 5
Skipping 1
2 3 4 5
Skipping 2
3 4 5
Skipping 3
4 5
Skipping 4
5
Skipping 5

Skipping 6

Now, write takeLast2 as a second version of takeLast , like this:

fun <T> FList<T>.takeLast2(n: Int): FList<T> = // 1

skip(size() - n) // 2

Here, you:

1. Define takeLast2 as an extension function of FList<T> , accepting an

input parameter n of type Int representing the number of elements you
want to take at the end of the list.

2. Invoke size to get the length of the receiver, and invoke skip to skip the
values in excess.

Run this code to test how this works:

fun main() {
(0..6).forEach {
println("takeLast2 $it")
FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
.takeLast2(it)
.forEach { print("$it ") }
println()
}
}

Getting the following output:

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takeLast2 0

takeLast2 1
5
takeLast2 2
4 5
takeLast2 3
3 4 5
takeLast2 4
2 3 4 5
takeLast2 5
1 2 3 4 5
takeLast2 6
1 2 3 4 5

Because you invoke size only once, the complexity of takeLast2 is O(N) .

Challenge 7.1
Kotlin provides the functions first and last as extension functions of
List<T> , providing, if available, the first and last elements. Can you implement
the same for FList<T> ?

Challenge 7.1 solution

The implementation of first for FList<T> is simple because it’s exactly the
same as head , which you implemented in the chapter.

fun <T> FList<T>.first() = head()

The implementation of last is also simple if you use the functions skip and
size that you implemented earlier.

fun <T> FList<T>.last() = skip(size() - 1).head()

Run the following code to get the value of first and last in some specific
edge cases:

fun main() {
println(FList.empty<Int>().first())
println(FList.empty<Int>().last())
println(FList.of(1).first())
println(FList.of(1).last())
println(FList.of(1, 2).first())
println(FList.of(1, 2).last())
}

And you get:

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null
null
1
1
1
2

Challenge 7.2
Kotlin provides an overload of first for Iterable<T> that provides the first
element that evaluates a given Predicate<T> as true . It also provides an
overload of last for List<T> that provides the last element that evaluates a
given Predicate<T> as true . Can you implement firstWhen and lastWhen
for FList<T> with the same behavior?

Challenge 7.2 solution

A very simple first implementation for firstWhen is:

fun <T> FList<T>.firstWhen(predicate: Predicate<T>): T? =

filter(predicate).first()

Here, you just use filter to get the FList<T> of all the values for the given
predicate, and then you take the first element.

You might notice that in this case filter creates a complete FList<T> of all
the values that evaluate the predicate as true , but you just need the first. A
possible better implementation is the following:

fun <T> FList<T>.fastFirstWhen(predicate: Predicate<T>): T? =

match(
whenNil = { null },
whenCons = { head, tail ->
if (predicate(head)) {
head
} else {
tail.fastFirstWhen(predicate)
}
}
)

In this code, you search for the first element that evaluates the predicate to
true . You do this by testing the head and continue to the tail if it evaluates
to false .

Use the same approach as firstWhen with the following implementation of

lastWhen :

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fun <T> FList<T>.lastWhen(predicate: Predicate<T>): T? =

filter(predicate).last()

Here, the only difference is that you take the last element of the one you got,
invoking filter first.

Note how a fast version of lastWhen doesn’t make sense because you always
need to evaluate all the elements in FList<T> to find the last one.

Run this code to test firstWhen and lastWhen :

fun main() {
val isEven: Predicate<Int> = { a: Int -> a % 2 == 0 }
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).firstWhen(isEven))
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).lastWhen(isEven))
println(FList.of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).fastFirstWhen(isEven))
}

You get:

2
6
2

Challenge 7.3
Implement the function get that returns the element at a given position i in
FList<T> . For instance, with this code:

fun main() {
println(FList.of(1,2,3,4,5).get(2))
}

You get:

Because 3 is the element at index 2 . Consider 0 the index of the first

element in FList<T> .

Challenge 7.3 solution

Creating a set of reusable functions is a very powerful tool and allows you to
implement a complete library. A possible solution for the get function is the

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following:

fun <T> FList<T>.get(i: Int): T =

skip(i).head() ?: throw ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException()

You basically skip i values and take the head . If the head doesn’t exist, you
throw an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException . This allows you to run the
following code:

fun main() {
val list = FList.of(1, 2, 3)
println(list.get(0))
println(list.get(1))
println(list.get(2))
println(list.get(3))
}

And get:

1
2
3
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

Of course, accessing the value at index 3 throws an

ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException .

To make things fancier, just use the operator keyword like this:

operator fun <T> FList<T>.get(i: Int): T =

skip(i).head() ?: throw ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException()

Now, you can use the [] syntax:

fun main() {
val list = FList.of(1, 2, 3)
println(list[0])
println(list[1])
println(list[2])
println(list[3])
}

And get the same output.

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H Appendix H: Chapter 8
Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 8.1
In this chapter, you implemented the generic curry function that basically
maps a function of type (A, B) -> C in a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C .
Can you now implement the uncurry function, which does the inverse? It’s a
function that maps a function of type (A) -> (B) -> C in a function of type
(A, B) -> C .

Exercise 8.1 solution

The implementation of the uncurry function is:

fun <A, B, C> ((A) -> (B) -> C).uncurry(): (A, B) -> C =
{ a: A, b: B ->
this(a)(b)
}

This is an extension function of the (A) -> (B) -> C type that returns a
function of two input parameters, a and b , of type A and B , respectively. In
the body, you just invoke the receiver function first with a and then the
resulting function with b .

It’s interesting to note how, if you apply uncurry to the curry version of a
function, you get the function itself. To prove this, run the following code:

fun main() {
val sum = { a: Int, b: Int -> a + b }
println(sum(2, 3))
val sum2 = sum.curry().uncurry()
println(sum2(2, 3))
}

Which gives you:

5
5

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Exercise 8.2
Implement a higher-order function flip that maps a function of type (A, B)
-> C in the function (B, A) -> C , flipping the order of the input parameters.

Exercise 8.2 solution

The flip function is very interesting and useful. Given you already have
curry and uncurry , you can implement flip like this:

fun <A, B, C> ((A, B) -> C).flip(): (B, A) -> C =

{ b: B, a: A ->
this(a, b)
}

As you can see:

flip is an extension function on the type (A, B) -> C .

The return type is (B, A) -> C .

It returns a function of the parameters b and a of types B and A ,
respectively.

In the body, you just invoke the receiver, passing the parameters in the right
order.

As a first example of the usage of this function, you can use the following:

fun append(a: String, b: String): String = "$a $b"

Now, run this:

fun main() {
val flippedAppend = ::append.flip() // 1
println(append("First", "Second")) // 2
println(flippedAppend("First", "Second")) // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define flippedAppend as the function you get by invoking flip on

::append .

2. Print the result of append , passing "First" and "Second" as input values.
3. Print the result of flippedAppend with the same parameters in the same
order.
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You’ll get:

First Second
Second First

Which proves flip is working.

Sometimes, using flip with curry is useful. Consider, for instance, the
following function:

fun runDelayed(fn: () -> Unit, delay: Long) { // 1

sleep(delay) // 2
fn() // 3
}

In this code, you:

1. Define runDelayed as a function with two input parameters. The first is a

lambda of type () -> Unit and the second is a Long that represents the
time you have to wait before invoking the previous lambda.

2. sleep for the delay time.

3. Invoke fn .

To use this code, just run:

fun main() {
// ...
runDelayed({
println("Delayed")
}, 1000)
}

You’ll see the program wait one second and then print Delayed . This is code
you can improve because you pass the lambda expression as the first parameter
and the interval as the second. Of course, you could use named parameters, but
you can do something better instead.
Just run the following code:

fun main() {
// ...
val runDelayed1Second =
::runDelayed.flip() // 1
.curry() // 2
.invoke(1000L) // 3
runDelayed1Second { // 4
println("Delayed")
}
}
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In this code, you:

1. Define runDelayed1Second as a function that allows you to run a given

lambda after a one-second delay. First, you invoke flip , getting a function
with Long as the first parameter and the lambda as the second.

2. Invoke curry() , getting a function of type (Long) -> (() -> Unit) ->
Unit .

3. Invoke the curried function with 1000L as an input parameter for the delay.
This makes (() -> Unit) -> Unit the type of runDelayed1Second .
4. Use runDelayed1Second , passing the lambda expression you want to run,
but delayed by 1 second.

Using composition in this way makes the code more reusable and simpler to
write.

Exercise 8.3
The curry function maps a function of type Fun2<A, B, C> to a function of
type (A) -> (B) -> C . How would you define an overload of curry for
functions of three, four, five or, in general, n parameters?

Exercise 8.3 solution

To make the code easier to read, start by writing a typealias for each function
type with a specified number of parameters, from 3 until 5 like this:

typealias Fun3<I1, I2, I3, O> = (I1, I2, I3) -> O

typealias Fun4<I1, I2, I3, I4, O> = (I1, I2, I3, I4) -> O
typealias Fun5<I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O> =
(I1, I2, I3, I4, I5) -> O

You can also do the same for the output types for the curry functions, like
this:

typealias Chain3<I1, I2, I3, O> = (I1) -> (I2) -> (I3) -> O
typealias Chain4<I1, I2, I3, I4, O> =
(I1) -> (I2) -> (I3) -> (I4) -> O
typealias Chain5<I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O> =
(I1) -> (I2) -> (I3) -> (I4) -> (I5) -> O

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In the case of three parameters, you can then write the following curry
overload:

fun <I1, I2, I3, O> Fun3<I1, I2, I3, O>.curry():

Chain3<I1, I2, I3, O> = { i1: I1, i2: I2 ->
{ i3: I3 ->
this(i1, i2, i3)
}
}.curry()

How can you consider a function with three parameters as a function with two
parameters returning another function? Basically, you consider the type:

(I1, I2, I3) -> O

As the following:

(I1, I2) -> ((I3) -> O)

This allows you to reuse the curry overload you implemented for N-1
parameters for a function of N parameters. Now, you can do the same for
functions with four and five parameters, like this:

fun <I1, I2, I3, I4, O> Fun4<I1, I2, I3, I4, O>.curry():
Chain4<I1, I2, I3, I4, O> = { i1: I1, i2: I2, i3: I3 ->
{ i4: I4 ->
this(i1, i2, i3, i4)
}
}.curry()

And:

fun <I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O>

Fun5<I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O>.curry():
Chain5<I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O> =
{ i1: I1, i2: I2, i3: I3, i4: I4 ->
{ i5: I5 ->
this(i1, i2, i3, i4, i5)
}
}.curry()

As an example, run the following code:

fun main() {
val sum = { a: Int, b: Int, c: Int, d: Int, e: Int ->
a + b + c + d + e // 1
}
val curriedSum = sum.curry() // 2
println(curriedSum(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)) // 3
}

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In this code, you:

1. Implement a simple function, sum , that calculates the sum of the five input
parameters.

2. Define curriedSum , invoking curry on sum . The type of curriedSum is

Chain5<I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, O> .

3. Invoke curriedSum and print the result. Note how you pass the input
parameters using () .

Of course, you’ll get the result:

15

In the previous example, you met the expression:

curriedSum(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)

As stated already, functional programmers don’t like parentheses and try,

whenever possible, to avoid them. You also already met the pipe function. One
possible option might be this:

fun main() {
val sum = { a: Int, b: Int, c: Int, d: Int, e: Int ->
a + b + c + d + e
}
val curriedSum = sum.curry()
val result = 5 pipe 4 pipe 3 pipe 2 pipe 1 pipe curriedSum //
HERE
println(result)
println(curriedSum(1)(2)(3)(4)(5))
}

Unfortunately, this code doesn’t compile. The reason is the associativity priority
between the pipe infix functions, which is left to right. This means that the
compiler tries to execute 5 pipe 4 first, which doesn’t exist.

To use pipe , you need to use parentheses in another way, like this:

val result = 5 pipe (4 pipe (3 pipe (2 pipe (1 pipe curriedSum))))

You basically just moved the same parentheses to another place. There’s a trick,

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though. Simply add the following code:

infix fun <A, B> Fun<A, B>.epip(a: A): B = this(a)

The epip function is basically the pipe reversed, but it allows you to
completely remove parentheses. Just replace the previous code with the
following:

fun main() {
val sum = { a: Int, b: Int, c: Int, d: Int, e: Int ->
a + b + c + d + e
}
val curriedSum = sum.curry()
val result = curriedSum epip 1 epip 2 epip 3 epip 4 epip 5 //
HERE
println(result)
}

And everything will be fine!

Feel free to play with these curry overloads and the flip function you
implemented in this exercise to change the order of your functions as you like.

Exercise 8.4
How would you apply the previous pattern for Array<T> ? Basically, you need a
way to compose functions of type:

typealias ToArray<A, B> = (A) -> Array<B>

In other words, if you have two functions:

val fun1: (A) -> Array<B>

val fun2: (C) -> Array<C>

Can you implement compose so that the following will compile and fun2 is
applied to all elements resulting from fun1 ?

fun1 compose fun2

Exercise 8.4 solution

First, you need to understand what composing functions of type ToArray<A,
B> means. The first is a function receiving an input value of type A and

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returning an Array<B> . The second receives an input of type B and returns
an Array<C> .

The composition should then be something that gets an Array<B> from the
first function and applies the second function to all the elements. A possible
implementation is:

inline infix fun <A, B, reified C> ToArray<A, B>.compose(

crossinline g: ToArray<B, C> // 1
): ToArray<A, C> = { a: A -> // 2
val bArray = this(a) // 3
val cArray = mutableListOf<C>() // 4
for (bValue in bArray) {
cArray.addAll(g(bValue))
}
cArray.toTypedArray() // 5
}

In this code, you:

1. Define compose as an infix extension function of the ToArray<A, B> type,

accepting an input parameter of type ToArray<B, C> . Of course, the return
type is ToArray<A, C> .

2. Return a function of the input parameter a of type A .

3. Invoke the received on a getting an Array<B> you save in bArray .
4. Create a MutableList<C> you fill with the values you get by invoking g on
each element of bArray .
5. Return the Array<C> version of MutableList<C> . This is the reason the
type C requires reified .

Now you can create your own example to test how this works. For instance,
write the following:

val fibo = { n: Int -> // 1

tailrec fun fiboHelper(a: Int, b: Int, fiboN: Int): Int =
when (fiboN) {
0 -> a
1 -> b
else -> fiboHelper(b, a + b, fiboN - 1)
}
fiboHelper(1, 1, n)
}

fun main() {
val counter = { a: Int -> Array(a) { it } } // 2
val fiboLength = { n: Int -> Array(n) { fibo(it) } } // 3
val counterFibo = counter compose fiboLength // 4
counterFibo(5).forEach { print("$it ") } // 5
}

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Here, you:

1. Define a utility function, fibo , that returns the n th value in the Fibonacci
sequence.

2. Create counter as a function that, given an Int , returns an Array<Int>

of values from 0 to n-1 .
3. Define fiboLength as a function that, given an Int , returns an
Array<Int> of the first n values of the Fibonacci sequence.

4. Create counterFibo as composition of counter and counterFibo .

5. Invoke counterFibo and print the values of the resulting Array<Int> .

Running the previous code, you get:

1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 3

To understand this output a bit better, walk through what it’s doing:

1. First, counter is invoked with 5 , resulting in the array [0,1,2,3,4] .

2. Then, for each item in that resulting array, fiboLength is invoked, creating
a list of the first n Fibonacci numbers. So, on the first element, 0 , the
result is [] . The second, 1 , results in [1] . This pattern continues until
you reach the element 4 , which results in [1,1,2,3] .

3. The results of each of these interations are combined into the final resulting
list that you see printed at the end.

In Chapter 12, “Monoids & Semigroups”, you’ll learn how to use a very
important function called fold . If you already know how to use it, a possible
alternate solution is:

inline infix fun <A, B, reified C> ToArray<A, B>.composeWithFold(

crossinline g: ToArray<B, C>
): ToArray<A, C> = { a: A ->
this(a).fold(mutableListOf<C>()) { acc, item ->
for (bValue in g(item)) { // HERE
acc.add(bValue)
}
acc
}.toTypedArray()
}

As you’ll learn, to use fold , you need to define what it means for a type to be
composable. To test this implementation, just add and run this code:

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fun main() {
// ...
val counterFiboWithFold = counter composeWithFold fiboLength
counterFiboWithFold(5).forEach { print("$it ") }
}

Which gives you the same output:

1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 3

Challenge 1: Callable stuff

In the chapter, you learned how to implement the compose function in
different scenarios following a common pattern. Consider, now, the following
function type:

typealias WithCallable<A, B> = Fun<A, Callable<B>>

How would you implement compose for WithCallable<A, B> ? This is using
java.util.concurrent.Callable defined as:

interface Callable<V> {
@Throws(Exception::class)
fun call(): V
}

Challenge 1 solution
Following the same pattern you learned in the chapter, you can implement
compose like this:

infix fun <A, B, C> WithCallable<A, B>.compose( // 1

g: WithCallable<B, C>
): WithCallable<A, C> = { a: A -> // 2
Callable<C> { // 3
g(this(a).call()).call() // 4
}
}

Here, you:

1. Define compose as an infix extension function for WithCallable<A, B> .

2. Return a function of the input parameter a of type A .

3. Return a new Callable<C> from the inner function.

4. Get the body of the returning Callable<C> invoking call on the receiver

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and then call again on the Callable<B> you get in the first place.

Test the previous code with:

fun main() {
val waitAndReturn = { a: Int -> // 1
Callable {
sleep(1000)
a
}
}
val comp = waitAndReturn compose waitAndReturn // 2
chronoMs {
comp(2).call() // 3
} pipe ::println
}

Here:

1. waitAndReturn is a function that returns a Callable<Int> that waits about

1 second and then returns the same value you pass as input.

2. You compose waitAndReturn with itself.

3. Using the chrono function in Util.kt , you check that by invoking call ,
you’re actually invoking the call on the WithCallable<A, B> you’re
composing.

The output will be something like:

2053

Note: Remember that sleep doesn’t allow you to wait a specific amount of
time but rather a minimum amount of time. This is because it guarantees
that the thread scheduler puts the current thread in a runnable state for the
time you pass as an input parameter. A thread in a runnable state is a
candidate to run, but this doesn’t mean it’ll run soon. This is also why the
previous output isn’t exactly 2000 but a little bit more.

Challenge 2: Parameters or not

parameters?
Suppose you have the following functions:

val three = { 3 } // 1

val unitToThree = { a: Unit -> 3 } // 2

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In this code:

1. three is a function of type () -> Int , returning 3 .

2. unitToThree is a function of type (Unit) -> Int , also returning 3 .

They look like the same function, but they’re actually not. This is because you
need a Unit to invoke unitToThree . This also has consequences when you
compose. Consider the following code:

fun main() {
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 } // 1
val comp2 = unitToThree compose double // 2 COMPILE
val comp1 = three compose double // 3 DOESN'T COMPILE
}

Here, you:
1. Define a simple double function.

2. Compose unitToThree with double . This compiles.

3. Try to compose three with double . This doesn’t compile.

The reason is that you don’t have any compose overload with the type () -> T
as a receiver. The type (Unit) -> T instead falls into Fun<A, B> .

Can you implement a higher-order function, addUnit , that converts a function

of type () -> T in the equivalent (Unit) -> T and removeUnit that does the
opposite? Using these functions, how would you fix the code in the previous
main ?

Challenge 2 solution
The solution to this challenge is very simple. You just need to define the
following functions:

fun <A> (() -> A).addUnit() = { unit: Unit -> this() }

fun <A> ((Unit) -> A).removeUnit() = { this(Unit) }

The previous example becomes:

fun main() {
val double = { a: Int -> a * 2 }
val comp2 = unitToThree compose double
val comp1 = three.withUnit() compose double // HERE

Invoking withUnit on three makes it composable with double .

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I Appendix I: Chapter 9
Exercise & Challenge
Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 9.1
In this chapter, you learned what the Optional<T> data type is, and you
implemented some important functions for it like lift , empty , map and
flatMap . Kotlin defines its own optional type represented by ? . How would
you implement the lift , empty and getOrDefault functions for it?

Exercise 9.1 solution

You can implement the previous functions like this:

fun <T : Any> T.lift(): T? = this // 1

fun <T : Any> T.empty(): T? = null // 2

fun <T : Any> T?.getOrDefault(defaultValue: T): T =

this ?: defaultValue // 3

In this code, you define:

1. lift as an extension function of the type T . Note that the receiver type T
isn’t optional because of the constraint T: Any . The important thing here is
that lift returns the same receiver but as a reference of the optional type
T? .

2. empty as an extension function of the not-optional type T , returning

null , but as the value of a reference of type T? .

3. getOrDefault also as an extension function of the optional type T? . Note

how the return type is the not-optional type T . In the body, you just check if
this is null , returning defaultValue if it is.

Run the following code for a better understanding of how all this works:

fun main() {
val optStr = "10".lift() // 1
optStr pipe ::println
val empty = String.empty() // 2

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empty pipe ::println
optStr // 3
.getOrDefault("Default")
.pipe(::println)
empty // 4
.getOrDefault("Default")
.pipe(::println)
}

And you get the output:

10 // 1
null // 2
10 // 3
Default // 4

Here, you use:

1. lift to convert a String , "10" , into an optional String? you then

print.
2. empty to get null through a reference of type String? you also print.

3. getOrDefault on optStr , getting 10 as the result.

4. getOrDefault on empty , getting the default value Default you pass as a

parameter.

Exercise 9.2
In this chapter, you learned what the Optional<T> data type is, and you
implemented some important functions for it like lift , empty , map and
flatMap . Kotlin defines its own optional type represented by ? . How would
you implement the map and flatMap functions?

Exercise 9.2 solution

A possible implementation of map for the Kotlin optional type is:

fun <A : Any, B : Any> A?.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): B? =

if (this != null) fn(this).lift() else null

This code has several important details:

1. map is an extension function for the optional type A? .

2. map accepts a single parameter of type Fun<A, B> .

3. You return null if the receiver is null .

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4. If the receiver isn’t null , you pass it as an input parameter of the function
fn and return the lifted result of type B? .

A possible implementation of flatMap for the Kotlin optional type is:

fun <A : Any, B : Any> A?.flatMap(fn: Fun<A, B?>): B? =

if (this != null) fn(this)?.lift() else null

In this case, you note that flatMap :

1. Is an extension function of the optional type A? .

2. Accepts a single parameter of type Fun<A, B?> . It’s important to note the
optional B? as a return type for the function, which differs from map .
3. Returns null if the receiver is null or if fn returns null.

4. Returns the result of invoking fn if the receiver isn’t null .

Exercise 9.3
How would you replicate the example you implemented in OptionalTest.kt
using T? instead of Optional<T> ? Use the solutions of Exercise 9.1 and
Exercise 9.2 to implement this example.

Exercise 9.3 solution

You can test the code you created in Exercise 9.1 and Exercise 9.2 by running
the following code:

fun strToInt(value: String): Int? = // 1

try {
value.toInt().lift()
} catch (nfe: NumberFormatException) {
null
}

fun <T : Any> T?.getOrDefault(defaultValue: T): T = // 2

if (this == null) defaultValue else this

fun main() {
"10" // 3
.lift()
.flatMap(::strToInt)
.map(::double)
.getOrDefault(-1)
.pipe(::println)

"10sa" // 4
.lift()
.flatMap(::strToInt)
.map(::double)
.getOrDefault(-1)
.pipe(::println)
}

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In this code, you:

1. Define strToInt as a function that converts a String into the Int it

contains, if possible. If that isn’t possible, it returns null . This is a function
of type Fun<String, Int?> you can pass as input to flatMap .

2. Create getOrDefault , checking the receiver’s value and returning

defaultValue if it’s null.

3. Use the same structure you used with Optional<T> with a valid String .

4. And again, use the same structure with an invalid String .

The output is:

20
-1

Exercise 9.4
Implement a function that reverses a String using one of the folding functions
you’ve implemented in this chapter.

Exercise 9.4 solution

A String is just an array of Char s. This means that a possible implementation
for the reverse function is:

fun reverse(str: String) =

str.toCharArray().toList() // 1
.declarativeFoldRight(StringBuilder()) { c, acc -> // 2
acc.append(c) // 3
acc
}.toString() // 4

In this code, you:

1. Convert the String passed as input to a List<Char> .

2. Invoke declarativeFoldRight , passing a StringBuilder as the initial state
for the accumulator.

3. Append the character to the previous accumulator state in the combination

function.

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4. Return the content of StringBuilder as a String .

To test the previous code, just run the following code:

fun main() {
reverse("supercalifragilisticexpialidocious") pipe ::println
}

Getting:

suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus

Exercise 9.5
In this chapter, you implemented declarativeFold and
declarativeFoldRight as extension functions for List<T> . How would you
implement them for Iterable<T> ?

Exercise 9.5 solution

The folding functions work for any ordered collection of items, so what really
matters is the ability to iterate over them. A possible implementation for
declarativeFold on Iterable is:

fun <T, S> Iterable<T>.iterableFold(

start: S,
combineFunc: (S, T) -> S
): S { // 1
tailrec fun helper(iterator: Iterator<T>, acc: S): S { // 2
if (!iterator.hasNext()) { // 3
return acc
}
return helper(iterator, combineFunc(acc, iterator.next())) // 4
}
return helper(iterator(), start) // 5
}

In this code:

1. You create iterableFold as an extension function for Iterable<T> . The

name is different from your previous implementations, so there are no
conflicts.
2. You define helper as a function accepting an Iterator<T> . In fact, you
just need to check if you’re at the end of the Iterator<T> or not, which you
do with hasNext .

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3. If you’re at the end of the Iterator<T> , you just return acc .
4. Otherwise, you recursively call helper , passing the same iterator and
the result you get combining acc with the next element.
5. You start everything, invoking helper with the Iterator<T> you get from
iterator . This is possible because the receiver is an Iterable<T> .

Using the same approach, you can also implement iterableFoldRight like
this:

fun <T, S> Iterable<T>.iterableFoldRight(

start: S,
combineFunc: (T, S) -> S
): S {
fun helper(iterator: Iterator<T>): S {
if (!iterator.hasNext()) {
return start
}
return combineFunc(iterator.next(), helper(iterator))
}
return helper(iterator())
}

To test how they work, run the following code:

fun main() {
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".asIterable()
.iterableFoldRight(StringBuilder()) { item, acc ->
acc.append(item)
acc
} pipe ::println
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".asIterable()
.iterableFold(StringBuilder()) { acc, item ->
acc.append(item)
acc
} pipe ::println
}

Getting:

suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Challenge 9.1: Filtering

How would you implement a filter function on a List<T> using fold or
foldRight ? You can name it filterFold . Remember that given:

typealias Predicate<T> = (T) -> Boolean

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The filterFold function for a List<T> should have this signature:

fun <T> List<T>.filterFold(predicate: Predicate<T>): List<T> {

// Implementation
}

Challenge 9.1 solution

You know that fold allows you to basically recreate a collection of items. If you
add an item after the evaluation of a predicate, you basically implement the
filter function. One possible solution is:

fun <T> List<T>.filterFold(predicate: Predicate<T>): List<T> =

fold(mutableListOf()) { acc, item -> // 1
if (predicate(item)) { // 2
acc.add(item) // 3
}
acc
}

In this code, you:

1. Invoke fold using a MutableList<T> as a starting value.

2. Evaluate the predicate against the current value.

3. Add the element if the predicate evaluates to true .

To test the previous code, simply run:

fun main() {
listOf(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
.filterFold { it % 2 == 0 }
.forEach(::println)
}

And the output is:

2
4
6
8
10

Challenge 9.2
How would you implement the length function for a List<T> that returns its

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size using fold or foldRight ?

Challenge 9.2 solution

A possible implementation is:

fun <T> List<T>.length(): Int =

fold(0) { acc, _ ->
acc + 1
}

In this case, you don’t care about the items, but you increment acc for each of
them. To test how this works, just run the following code:

fun main() {
val list = List<Int>(37) { it }
list.length() pipe ::println
}

And you get:

37

In this case, using fold or foldRight doesn’t make any difference.

Challenge 9.3: Average

How would you implement the avg function for a List<Double> that returns
the average of all the elements using fold or foldRight ?

Challenge 9.3 solution

The solution here is simple, and is basically the implementation of the definition
of average: the sum of all the elements divided by the number of elements:

fun List<Double>.average(): Double =

fold(0.0) { acc, item -> acc + item } /
fold(0.0) { acc, _ -> acc + 1 }

Run this code to test the solution:

fun main() {
val list = List<Int>(37) { it }
list.average() pipe ::println
}

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You get:

18.0

Challenge 9.4: Last

How would you implement the lastFold function for a List<T> that returns
the last element using fold or foldRight ? What about firstFold ?

Challenge 9.4 solution

One possible implementation is:

fun <T> List<T>.lastFold(): T? =

fold(null as T?) { _, item -> item }

In this case, it’s curious to see how the initial value matters only if the receiver is
empty. Otherwise, only the last item matters. To test how it works, run this code:

fun main() {
val list = List<Int>(37) { it }
list.lastFold() pipe ::println
val empty = emptyList<Int>()
empty.lastFold() pipe ::println
}

Getting:

36
null

Note that to get the first element, you just need to use foldRight instead, like
this:

fun <T> List<T>.firstFold(): T? =

foldRight(null as T?) { item, acc -> item }

To test this, just run this code:

val list = List<Int>(37) { it }

list.firstFold() pipe ::println

And you get:

0
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J Appendix J: Chapter 10
Exercise Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 10.1
What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias Triplet = Triple<UByte, Boolean, Unit>

Exercise 10.1 solution

As you learned in the chapter, the cardinality of Triplet is the product of the
cardinalities of UByte , Boolean and Unit , which are:

UByte * Boolean * Unit = 256 * 2 * 1 = 512

This is because:

UByte is an unsigned 8-bit integer with ranges from 0 to 255.

Boolean can be true or false.
Unit represents a singleton.

The total number of possible values you can represent with Triplet is then
512.

Exercise 10.2
What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias Unique = Pair<Unit, Unit>

Is this isomorphic with Unit ?

Exercise 10.2 solution

Of course, the cardinality of Unique is exactly 1 because Unit is the only
existing value of type Unit . Because of this, Unique is isomorphic to Unit .

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Exercise 10.3
What’s the cardinality of the following type?

typealias MultiEither = Either<UByte, Either<Boolean, Triage>>

Is MultiEither isomorphic with MultiEither2 , which you define in the

following way?

typealias MultiEither2 = Either<Either<UByte, Boolean>, Triage>

Exercise 10.3 solution

In the chapter, you learned that Either<A, B> is a way to represent addition.
For this reason, you can represent the previous definition like:

UByte + (Boolean + Triage) = 256 + (2 + 3) = 256 + 5 = 261

Repeat the exercise with MultiEither2 , and you’ll get:

(UByte + Boolean) + Triage = (256 + 2) + 3 = 256 + 5 = 261

They’re the same because addition is associative. You can find a function that
maps each value in MultiEither to each value in MultiEither2 and vice
versa. Because of this, the two types are isomorphic.

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K Appendix K: Chapter 12
Exercise Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 12.1
Can you find an example of a monoid whose operation isn’t commutative?

Exercise 12.1 solution

A typical example of a monoid in programming that isn’t commutative is:

A set of String s
Concatenation

Concatenation is associative because:

a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c

But it’s commutative because:

a + b != b + a

You can easily verify this with the following code:

fun main() {
val str1 = "Hello"
val str2 = " World!"

println(str1 + str2)
println(str2 + str1)
}

When you run it, you get:

Hello World!
World!Hello

What about the unit element? Of course, this is the empty String . To test this,
just add and run the following code:

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fun main() {
// ...
val unit = ""
println(str1 + unit)
println(unit + str1)
}

Getting as output:

Hello
Hello

Exercise 12.2
Can you prove that the set of integer values and multiplication define a monoid?
In this case, what would the unit element be?

Exercise 12.2 solution

To prove that the set of integer values and multiplication form a monoid, you
have to prove that:

Multiplication is associative.
There’s a unit element.

The first property is obvious because:

a * (b * c) = (a * b) * c

In this case, of course, the unit element is 1 because:

a * 1 = a
1 * a = a

You can get a better idea of this with some simple code:

fun main() {
val a = 3
val b = 7
val c = 13
val res1 = a * (b * c)
val res2 = (a * b) * c

println(res1)
println(res2)

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val unit = 1
val res3 = a * unit
val res4 = unit * a

println(res3)
println(res4)
}

When you run the code above, you get:

273
273
3
3

Exercise 12.3
How would you implement the monoid MonoidIntMult for Int and
multiplication?

Exercise 12.3 solution

The implementation of MonoidIntMult is simple because it’s similar to
MonoidIntAdd , which you saw in the chapter. Follow that pattern, and you can
implement MonoidIntMult like this:

object MonoidIntMult : Monoid<Int> { // 1

override val unit: Int
get() = 1 // 2
override val combine: Int.(Int) -> Int
get() = Int::times // 3
}

In this case, you define:

1. MonoidIntMult as an object implementing Monoid<Int> .

2. 1 as the unit for the multiplication.

3. combine using Int::times , which is of type Int.(Int) -> Int .

Exercise 12.4
How would you implement the monoid MonoidStringConcat for String and
String concatenation?

Exercise 12.4 solution

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As mentioned in the chapter, String concatenation is an example of a monoid

with an operation that isn’t commutative. The implementation of
MonoidStringConcat isn’t so different from MonoidIntAdd . A possible
implementation is:

object MonoidStringConcat : Monoid<String> { // 1

override val unit: String
get() = "" // 2
override val combine: String.(String) -> String
get() = String::plus // 3
}

In this code, you define:

1. MonoidStringConcat as an object implementing Monoid<String> .

2. The empty String ”” as the unit for the String concatenation.
3. combine using String::plus , which is of type String.(String) ->
String .

Exercise 12.5
In the chapter, you proved that addition is different from multiplication using
op(op(a, 1), 1) and op(a, 2) . The two expressions are equal for any Int
a if op is addition, but the same isn’t true if op is multiplication. Can you
implement a Property<Int> implementation for this rule and use it to create a
new test?

Exercise 12.5 solution

Following the pattern you used previously in the chapter, a possible
implementation is the following:

class DoubleIncrementProperty : Property<Int> { // 1

override fun invoke(
gen: Generator<Int>,
fn: (List<Int>) -> Int
): Boolean { // 2
val randomValue = gen.generate(1)[0] // 3
val res1 = fn(listOf(fn(listOf(randomValue, 1)), 1)) // 4
val res2 = fn(listOf(randomValue, 2)) // 5
return res1 == res2 // 6
}
}

In this code, you:

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1. Define DoubleIncrementProperty as a Property<Int> implementation.

2. Override invoke , using Int as a value for the type parameter T .

3. Use the Generator<Int> to get a random Int value.

4. Invoke fn , passing 1 as the second parameter and then using the result to
invoke fn again.

5. Invoke fn , using 2 as the second parameter.

6. Verify the two results are equal.

A possible test with DoubleIncrementProperty is:

class PropertyTestTest {

@Test
fun `Exercise 5 solution`() {
100.times {
val additionProp =
CommutativeProperty<Int>() and
DoubleIncrementProperty() and
IdentityProperty(0)
val evaluation = additionProp(IntGenerator) {
sum(it[0], it[1])
}
Truth.assertThat(evaluation).isTrue()
}
}
}

As you see, this is very similar to the test you implemented in the chapter using
DoubleIncrementProperty in place of AssociativeProperty .

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L Appendix L: Chapter 13
Exercise Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 13.1
How would you make the Optional<T> data type you created in Chapter 9,
“Data Types”, a monad?

Exercise 13.1 solution

In Chapter 9, “Data Types” you implemented the Optional<T> type like this:

sealed class Optional<out T> {

companion object {
@JvmStatic
fun <T> lift(value: T): Optional<T> = Some(value)

@JvmStatic
fun <T> empty(): Optional<T> = None
}
}

object None : Optional<Nothing>()

data class Some<T>(val value: T) : Optional<T>()

To give Optional<T> the monad superpowers you initially need to make it a

functor by adding the map function, implement it like this:

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.map(fn: Fun<A, B>): Optional<B> =

when (this) {
is Some<A> -> Some(fn(this.value))
is None -> None
}

In the chapter, you learned that you can implement the fish operator starting
from the implementation of the optionalFlatten function, which is a function
of type (Optional<Optional<T>>) -> Optional<T> . After that, you just need to
implement optionalBind and then optionalFish in the same way you saw in
the chapter.

A possible implementation for optionalFlatten is:

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fun <T> Optional<Optional<T>>.optionalFlatten(): Optional<T> = when
(this) {
is Some<Optional<T>> -> when (this.value) {
is Some<T> -> Optional.lift<T>(this.value.value)
is None -> Optional.empty()
}
is None -> Optional.empty()
}

Here, you just return Some<T> if both the Optional s are Some .

Now, you can implement optionalBind like this:

infix fun <B, C> Optional<B>.optionalBind(

g: Fun<B, Optional<C>>
): Optional<C> =
map(g).optionalFlatten()

Finally, you can implement optionalFish like this:

infix fun <A, B, C> Fun<A, Optional<B>>.optionalFish(

g: Fun<B, Optional<C>>
): Fun<A, Optional<C>> = { a: A ->
this(a).optionalBind(g)
}

Exercise 13.2
What’s the relation between the fish operator, >=> , and flatMap ? Can you
express the latter in terms of the former for Optional<T> ?

Exercise 13.2 solution

The >=> operator for Optional<T> has type:

((A) -> Optional<B>, (B) -> Optional<C>) -> (A) -> Optional<C>

The flatMap has type (Optional<A>, (A) -> Optional<B>) -> Optional<B> .

A possible way to implement flatMap is the following:

fun <A> Optional<A>.lift(value: A): Optional<A> =

Optional.lift(value) // 1

fun <A, B> Optional<A>.flatMap(fn: Fun<A, Optional<B>>):

Optional<B> =
map(::lift optionalFish fn).optionalFlatten() // 2

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In this code, you:

1. Define lift as an extension function of Optional<A> . Here, you simply

invoke the lift you defined as a static function.

2. Implement flatMap using optionalFish for creating a function

composing lift of type (A) -> Optional<A> and g of type (A) ->
Optional<B> , getting a function of type (A) -> Optional<B> . If you use the
function as a parameter for map , you get a value of type
Optional<Optional<B>> that you know how to flatten using
optionalFlatten .

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M Appendix M: Chapter 14
Exercise Solutions
Written by Massimo Carli

Exercise 14.1
ResultAp<E, T> is very similar to Either<E, T> . Can you implement
flatMap for it as well?

Exercise 14.1 solution

A possible flatMap implementation for ResultAp<E, T> is the following:

fun <E : Throwable, B, D> ResultAp<E, B>.flatMap(

fn: (B) -> ResultAp<E, D>
): ResultAp<E, D> = // 1
when (this) {
is Error<E> -> ResultAp.error(error) // 2
is Success<B> -> { // 3
val result = fn(value)
when (result) {
is Error<E> -> ResultAp.error(result.error) // 4
is Success<D> -> ResultAp.success(result.value) // 4
}
}
}

In the code, you replaced:

1. Either<E, T> with Result<E: Throwable, T> .

2. Left<E> with Error<E>

3. Right<T> with Success<T> .

4. left with error and right with success .

As a quick note, notice that this flatMap implementation uses the fail fast
approach.

Exercise 14.2
In the previous paragraphs, you implemented a simple system to fetch and
parse data using both Optional<T> and Either<E, T> . Can you do the same
using ResultAp<E, T> ?

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Exercise 14.2 solution

In this case, you have to follow the same process you did in the chapter. Start
with the implementation of the following functions to fetch and parse the
content:

fun fetchTvShowResultAp(
query: String
): ResultAp<IOException, String> = try {
ResultAp.success(TvShowFetcher.fetch(query))
} catch (ioe: IOException) {
ResultAp.error(ioe)
}

/** Invokes the parser returning a ResultAp<E, T> */

fun parseTvShowResultAp(
json: String
): ResultAp<SerializationException, List<ScoredShow>> = try {
ResultAp.success(TvShowParser.parse(json))
} catch (e: SerializationException) {
ResultAp.error(e)
}

Here, you just do the same replacements you did in Exercise 14.1.

The next step is the composition of fetchTvShowResultAp and

parseTvShowResultAp , like this:

fun fetchAndParseTvShowResultAp(query: String) =

fetchTvShowResultAp(query)
.flatMap(::parseTvShowResultAp)

Finally, you can run the following code to test your solution:

fun main() {
fetchAndParseTvShowResultAp("Big Bang Theory")
.errorMap {
println("Error: $it")
it
}
.successMap {
println("Result: $it")
}
}

Just note that Throwable as an upper bound forces you to return a Throwable
from errorMap . Again, feel free to remove that limitation if this bothers you.

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