Mo'Problems, Mo'Nads

Monads; just that word alone probably either made you shudder or roll your eyes. But don't run away!

Functional Programming (FP) offers many benefits to our programs, even in a loose/flexible language like JS. But we often avoid them just because of intimidating terminology, notation, and math theory. Rarely is this more prevalent than with monads.

This talk is not a dissertation on monads and broader category theory. We're merely dipping our toe into the shallow end here, not plunging head first into the deep end. But I hope maybe it entices you to swim around, because the water's actually quite pleasant!

We'll look at familiar problems in code that we typically solve imperatively, and then see how some of the de-mystified behaviors associated with monads (and friends!) can help. After this talk, I hope you'll look more closely at monads and other algebraic structures.

Topics illustrated: selecting values with conditional logic, forking behavior on exceptions, and juggling asynchronous side effects.

Transcript

1. Mo’Problems, Mo’nads
   getify (kyle simpson)
   

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2. "Some people, when confronted
   with a problem, think 'I know, I'll
   use regular expressions.' Now they
   have two problems."
   -- Jamie Zawinski
   

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3. regexes get a bad rap
   

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5. “right tool … blah blah…”
   specialized vs generalized
   

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6. "Technology is a word that
   describes something that
   doesn't work yet."
   -- Douglas Adams
   

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7. Monads
   unit(a) >>= λx → f(x) ↔ f(a)
   ma >>= λx → unit(x) ↔ ma
   ma >>= λx → (f(x) >>= λy → g(y)) ↔ (ma >>= λx → f(x)) >>= λy → g(y)
   

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8. "a monad is just a monoid in the
   category of endofunctors."
   

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9. "algebras, and categories, and
   type theory… oh my!"
   

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11. there’s only
    one right way
    to explain
    monads!
    

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12. types vs values
    

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13. types: behaviors we can expect
    values: behaviors we can use
    

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14. what does monad mean?
    the Monad (type/interface) vs
    a monad (value)
    

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15. the Monad: 3 laws
    a monad: data structure
    

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16. https://github.com/getify/Monio
    

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18. monads & friends
    

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20. why monads?
    

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21. 1. choose a value or fallback?
    2. gracefully handle exceptions?
    3. manage side effects?
    how could I...
    

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22. 1. choose a value or fallback?
    Maybe Monad
    

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26. 2. gracefully handle exceptions?
    Either Monad
    

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28. 3. manage side effects?
    IO Monad
    

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31. https://codepen.io/getify/pen/VwjyoMY?editors=0011
    3. IO + Maybe + Either + ...
    

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