Functional Programming in Swift

Functional Programming
in Swift
Presented by: Saugat Gautam

What is functional
programming?

Functional Programming
• A programming paradigm that treats computations
as the evaluation of mathematical functions and
avoids changing-state and mutable data. It is
declarative programming paradigm, which means
programming is done with expressions.

Why?
• Maintainable code.
• Easier and complete testing.
• Easier parallel and concurrent programming.

Aspects of Functional
Programming

Aspects
• Immutable Data(Values)
• Pure functions
• Higher Order Functions
• Functions as arguments and as return values.

Immutable Values benefits
• Values can’t change unexpectedly
• Can be shared without worrying
• Thread safe - Values play well with observers

Example
let firstName = "Saugat"
let lastName = “Gautam"
var middleName = "Kumar"
let numbers = Array(1…10)
firstName.append("D") // Compiler Error
middleName.append("atunga") // All good
//—————————————————————————————————————
struct PersonalInfo {
var firstName: String
var lastName: String
var middleName: String
}
let emp1 = PersonalInfo(firstName: "Saugat", lastName: "Gautam", middleName:

More Benefits
• The Value of Values - Rich Hickey
http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Value-Values
• Controlling Complexity in Swift or Making Friends
with Value- Andy Matuschak
http://realm.io/news/andy-matuschak-controlling-
complexity/
http://www.objc.io/issue-16/swift-classes-vs-
structs.html

Why Functional Swift?
• Generics.
• Functional Programming Concept.
• Nice consistent syntax for functions and closures.

Can’t Objective-C do
it?
It can but we probably don’t want to.

Swift Value Types vs
Reference Types
• Value Types:
• Numbers, strings, arrays, dictionaries, enums, tuples, and
structs.
• Reference Types:
• Classes

Value Types
• Single owner
• Copied on assign
• Example
var a = 10
var b = a
// a = 10, b = 5
b = 5
// a = 10, b = 5

Reference Types
• Multiple owners
• Shared on assignment
var a = UIView()
var b = a
// a.alpha = 1, b.alpha = 1
b.alpha = 0
// a.alpha = 0; b.alpha = 0

Pure Functions
• Same input always results in same output
(Referential Transparency)
• Evaluation of result does not cause any side effect
• eg. No change in database or to I/O devices
• Result value need not depend on all arguments but
it must depend on nothing other than the arguments

Pure Function
func factorial(number: Int) -> Int {
if (number == 1) {
return 1
} else {
return number * factorial(number - 1)
}
}
factorial(6)

Not Pure!!
func naturalSum(numbers:[Int]) -> Int{
var total = 0
for num in numbers {
total = total + num
}
return total
}
func sayHelloTo(name: String) {
println("Hello (name)")
}

Higher Order Functions
• Function as parameter
• Function as return value

Function as Parameter
func average(x: Int, y: Int, f:(Int -> Int)) -> Int{
return (f(x) + f(y))/2
}
let square = {(x: Int) -> Int in return x * x}
average(2, 3, f:square)

Function as Parameter
func average(x: Int, y: Int, f:(Int -> Int) = {x in return x}) -> Int{
return (f(x) + f(y))/2
}
let square = {(x: Int) -> Int in return x * x}
average(2, 3, f:square)

Function as Return
Value
func add(a: Int) -> (Int -> Int) {
return {b in a + b}
}
// partial application
let addThree = add(3)
//
let x3 = xs2.map(addThree)

Functional Tool Box
• Map
• Reduce
• Filter

Functional Tool Box
• Laziness
• Flatmap
• Currying

Functional Toolbox
• Functors, Applicative Functors
• Monads
References:
Functional Programming in Swift
http://www.objc.io/books/
Why is a Monad like a writing desk?
http:www.infoq.com/presentations/Why-is-a-Monad-Like-a-Writing-Desk

Map
• Transforming data
• Normally number of output collections is equal to
input

Map Example for Array<T>
• Produce a list of the squares of the first 10 positive
numbers.

Imperative Approach
let firstTenPositiveIntegers = [Int](1…10)
var firstTenSquares = [Int]()
for number in firstTenPositiveIntegers {
firstTenSquares.append(number*number)
}
println(firstTenSquares)
// [1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100]

Problems with Imperative
Approach
• Mixes looping with transformation
• Not declarative
• What if ..
firstTenSquares.append(23)
// [1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 23]

Functional Approach
let firstTenPositiveIntegers = [Int](1...10)
let firstTenSquares = firstTenPositiveIntegers.map {$0 * $0}
println(firstTenSquares)
// [1, 4, … , 100]

Benefits of Functional
Approach
• Declarative. States what we want to do. Not how we
want to do it.
• Separates the mechanism(step through and select
each item) from the transformation logic

Filter
• Transforms the initial collection to some final
collection applying some condition
• Final size may not be equal to initial size

Filter Example for Array<T>
• Requirement:
• Produce a list of even squares of the first 10
positive numbers.

Imperative Approach:
var evenSquaresInFirstTen = [Int]()
let square = number * number
if (square % 2) == 0 {
evenSquaresInFirstTen.append(square)
}
}
println(evenSquaresInFirstTen)
// [4, 16, 36, 64, 100]

Functional Approach
let evenSquaresInFirstTen = firstTenPositiveIntegers.map({$0 * $0}).filter({($0%2) == 0})
println(evenSquaresInFirstTen)
// [4, 16, 36, 64, 100]

Reduce
• Transform a collection to a single value

Reduce Example for
Array<T>
• Sum of the even squares in the first 10 positive
numbers?

Imperative Approach
var sumOfEvenSquaresInFirstTen = 0
let square = number * number
if (square % 2) == 0 {
sumOfEvenSquaresInFirstTen += square
}
}
println(sumOfEvenSquaresInFirstTen)
// 220

Functional Approach
let sumOfEvenSquaresInFirstTen = firstTenPositiveIntegers.map({$0 *
.filter({$0 %2 == 0})
.reduce(0, combine: {$0 + $1})
// 220

Functional Approach
let sumOfEvenSquaresInFirstTen = firstTenPositiveIntegers.map({$0 * $0}).reduce
// 220

Currying
• Translating the evaluation of a function that takes
multiple arguments into evaluating a sequence of
functions each with a single argument(partial
application)

Currying example
• Say we have a method that takes two inputs and
add them
func add(a: Int, b: Int) -> Int {
return a + b
}
let sum = add(2, 3) // sum = 5

Currying Example
• Now we want to add 2 to a list of numbers
• Drawbacks
• creating a closure just for passing add with default
value
• difficulty arises in case multiple default values are
needed
let xs = 1...100
let x = xs.map { add($0, 2) } // x = [3, 4, 5, 6, etc]

Currying Example
• Use currying
• Drawbacks
• need of wrapper functions for each integer
func addTwo(a: Int) -> Int {
return add(a, 2)
}
let xs = 1...100
let x = xs2.map(addTwo)

Currying Example
• Use another currying method
func add(a: Int) -> (Int -> Int) {
return {b in a + b}
}
// Using method as a whole;
add(2)(3)
// partial application
let addThree = add(3)
//
let x3 = xs2.map(addThree)

Application
Architecture
How does functional fit in?

Application Architecture
• Cocoa and Cocoa Touch are inherently imperative
• Don’t fight the framework

Infusing functional thinking
into our Cocoa applications?
• Functional Core / Imperative Shell approach
• References
• https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog/functional-core-
imperative-shell
• https://speakerdeck.com/jspahrsummers/enemy-of-the-state

Functional Core / Imperative
Shell
• Place application’s core data and logic in immutable
constructs (value types).
• Push state out to the ‘edges’. Represent state as
objects with mutable references to immutable core
constructs.

Benefits
• Allows isolated testing
• Leads to an imperative shell with few conditionals,
making reasoning about the program’s state over
time much easier

UI - Can We Functionalize
the Imperative Shell?
• Not quite there.
Some references worth mentioning.
• Reactive Cocoa
https://github.com/ReactiveCocoa/ReactiveCocoa
• React Native
http://www.reactnative.com
• Functional View Controllers
http://chris.eidhof.nl/posts/functinal-view-controllers.html

Functional Programming in Swift

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