Functional Programming For Dummies

Chapter 9

Advancing with Higher-Order Functions

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining the kinds of data manipulation

Changing dataset size using slicing and dicing

Changing dataset content using mapping and filtering

Organizing your data

Previous chapters in this book spend a lot of time looking at how to perform basic application tasks and viewing data to see what it contains in various ways. Just viewing the data won’t do you much good, however. Data rarely comes in the form you need it and even if it does, you still want the option to mix it with other data to create yet newer views of the real world. Gaining the ability to shape data in certain ways, throw out what you don’t need, refine its appearance, change its type, and otherwise condition it to meet your needs is the essential goal of this chapter.

Shaping, in the form of slicing and dicing, is the most common kind of manipulation. Data analysis can take hours, days, or even weeks at times. Anything you can do to refine the data to match specific criteria is important in getting answers fast. Obtaining answers quickly is essential in ...