Learning Functional Programming

Preface

Over the past few years, functional programming (FP) has been experiencing a renaissance. Many companies are looking for programmers with experience in FP, as languages that were not originally designed to be functional have evolved over time to include functional capabilities: languages such as Java, JavaScript, and Python, to name a few. The push for programmers with functional experience is due, in part, to a perceived improvement in the development process, including a sense that fewer bugs are produced and more extensible and robust code is produced when following the functional way. Whether this is true or not—and whether a greater percentage of the code written in the coming years is functional—will become evident in time. For now, let us consider FP one of a number of paradigms, each with its own pros and cons.

Who Should Use This Book?

Essentially, all programmers. If you have no experience in FP, but have heard about it and you are curious, or even if you picked up this book in a store without any knowledge of FP, this book will prove useful to you. Experienced FP programmers too, will find something to benefit them. The book dives into the category theory roots of FP in a way not presented in other books on this subject. Finally, programmers with some experience using FP but who want to gain a more advanced understanding of the concepts and theory that make up FP will find much to use and enjoy.

How The Book Is Organized

I endeavor to demonstrate, through ...