Functional Ruby

In Ruby Everything Is

An Object

Methods, Procs, Lambdas Are

Objects

In Pure FP languages (Haskell, Elm...), Everything Is

A Function

Numbers, Strings, Structures Are

Functions

Let's Explore The Functional Side Ruby

Basics

Ruby has great support for anonymous functions. We see them everywhere in the form of blocks.

["apple", "orange", "banana"].map { |a| a.upcase }
# => ["APPLE", "ORANGE", "BANANA"]

Procs

upcase = Proc.new { |a| a.upcase } #=> #<Proc:0x007fcc621aa078>

upcase.call("apple") #=> "APPLE"
upcase.("apple") #=> "APPLE"
upcase["apple"] #=> "APPLE"

["apple", "orange", "banana"].map(&upcase)
# => ["APPLE", "ORANGE", "BANANA"]

Lambdas

upcase = -> (a) { a.upcase } #=> #<Proc:0x008.. (lambda)>

upcase.call("apple") #=> "APPLE"
upcase.("apple") #=> "APPLE"
upcase["apple"] #=> "APPLE"

["apple", "orange", "banana"].map(&upcase)
# => ["APPLE", "ORANGE", "BANANA"]

Scope

You can access outer scope variables from lambdas or procs

interjection = "HEY "
shout_at = -> (name) { interjection +  name.upcase + "!" }
shout_at.("martin") #=> "HEY MARTIN"

Partial application

Partial application refers to the process of fixing a number of arguments to a function, producing another function of smaller arity.

Example with Arity 2

add = -> a { -> b { a + b } }
add2 = add.(2) # => -> b { 2 + b }
add2.(3)  # => 5
add.(2).(3)  # => 5

Example of Arity 3

multi_add = -> a { -> b { -> c { a + b + c } } }
add_10 = multi_add.(10) # => -> b { -> c { 10 + b + c } }
add_10_and_1 = add_10.(1) # => -> c { 10 + 1 + c }
add_10_and_1.(5) # => 16

add.(10).(1).(5) # => 16

Defining your lambdas this way can be tedious. Ruby offers a solution for that.

Anyone ?

Proc#curry

add =  -> (a, b) { a + b }.curry
add2 = add.(2)
add2.(3) # => 5

Why Would I Use This ???

Initializing Functions

Example 1

Linear Function

y = m * x + b

Imperative Way

class MyMath
  def self.linear(m, x, b)
    m * x + b
  end
end

Celcius to Farenheit

class INeedAClassNameForThis
  def self.fahrenheit(celcius)
    MyMath.linear(1.8, celcius, 32)
  end
end

INeedAClassNameForThis.fahrenheit(10)

OO Way

class Linear
  def initialize(m, b)
    @m = m
    @b = b
  end

  def call(x)
    @m * x + @b
  end
end

to_fahrenheit = Linear.new(1.8, 32)
to_fahrenheit.call(10)

Functional Way

linear = -> m, b, x { m * x + b }.curry

to_fahrenheit = linear.(1.8).(32)
to_fahrenheit.(10) # => 50.0

to_celcius = linear.(0.5555).(-7.777)
to_celcius.(50) #=> 10.0

Example 2

Poor's man Strong Parameters

params = {name: "Joe", age: "23", pwd: "hacked_password"}

filter_hash = -> keys, params {
  Hash[keys.map { |key| [key, param[key]] }]
}.curry

filter_hash.([:name, :age]).(params)
# => {name: "Joe", age: "23"}

params = {name: "Joe", age: "23", pwd: "hacked_password",
          contact: { address: "2342 St-Denis",
                     to_filter: ""}}

filter_hash.([:name, :age, :contact]).(params)
# => {name: "Joe", age: "23",
#     contact: { address: "2342 St-Denis",
#                to_filter: ""}}

hash_of = -> fields , hash { 
  Hash[fields.map { |(key, fn)| [key, fn.(hash[key])] }] 
}.curry

hash_of.(name: -> a {a}, 
         age: -> a {a}, 
         contact: hash_of.(address: -> a {a})).(params)

# => {name: "Joe", age: "23",
#     contact: { address: "2342 St-Denis" }

The Identity Function

same = -> a { a }
same.(2) # => 2

hash_of.(name: -> a {a}, 
         age: -> a {a}, 
         contact: hash_of.(address: -> a {a}))

hash_of.(name: same, 
         age: same, 
         contact: hash_of.(address: same))

contact = hash_of.(address: same)
user = hash_of.(name: same, age: same,
                contact: hash_of.(contact))

array_of = -> fn, value {
  if value.kind_of?(Array)
    value.map(&fn)
  else
   []
}.curry

default = -> default, a { a.nil? ? default : a  }.curry

contact = hash_of.(address: default.("N/A")) 
params = [{address: "21 Jump Street", remove: "me" }, 
          {}]
array_of.(contact).(params)
# => [{address: "21 Jump Street"}, 
#     {address: "N/A"}]

params.permit(:name, 
              {:emails => []}, 
              :friends => [ :name, { :family => [ :name ], 
                                     :hobbies => [] }])

hash_of.({ name: same, 
           emails: array_of.(same),
           friends: array_of.({ name: same, 
                                family: hash_of.(name: same)
                                hobbies: array_of.(same)})})

Partial Application For Managing Dependency Injection

The OO Way

class GithubRepoLanguageCounter
  def initialize(logger, github_client)
    @logger = logger
    @client = github_client
  end

  def call(account_name)
    repos = @client.repos(account_name)
    @logger.info("REPOS = \n #{repos}")
    # Do some stuff with the repos
  end
end

class GithubClient
  def repos(account_name)
    json = open("https://api.github.com/users/#{account_name}/repos?per_page=100").read
    JSON.parse(json)
  end
end

logger = Logger.new($stdout)
client = GithubClient.new
counter = RepoLanguageCounter.new(logger, client)

puts counter.call("martinos")
# => {"ruby" => 55, "cobol" => 70, "fortran" => 24}

The Functional Way

language_count = -> print, fetch_repo, account_name {
  repos = fetch_repo.(account_name)
  print.("REPOS = \n  #{repos}")
  # do some stuff with the repos
}.curry

fetch_repo = -> account_name {
  json = open("https://api.github.com/users/#{account_name}/repos?per_page=100").read
  JSON.parse(json)
}

printer = -> a { puts a }
my_counter = language_count.(printer).(fetch_repo)

# Somewhere else in the code
my_counter.("martinosis")

printer = -> a { a } # /dev/null
# or
printer = -> a { logger.info(a) }

Function Composition

In programming it's very frequent to do a calculation, take the result and pass it to another method or a function.

def user_is_major(email)
  user = User.find_by(email: email)
  age = Time.now - user.birthdate
  age >= 18.years
end

user_from_email = -> email { User.find_by(email: email) }
user_age = -> user { Time.now - user.birthdate }
is_major = -> age { age >= 18.years }

is_user_major = -> email { 
  is_major.(user_age.(user_from_email.(email)))
}.curry

is_user_major.("joebloe@acme.com")

Function Composition Is Associative

The >>~ operator

Aka >> in F# and Elm

require 'superators19'

class Proc
  superator ">>~" do |fn|
    -> a { fn.(self.(a)) }
  end
end

Function Composition decouples code

is_user_major = -> email { is_major.(user_age.(user_from_email.(email)))}

is_user_major = user_from_email >>~ user_age >>~ is_major
is_user_major.("joebloe@acme.com")

alt text

The Christmas Tree Operator (>>+)

Aka The Pipe Operator (|>)

Definition

class Object
  superator ">>+" do |fn|
    fn.(self)
  end
end

It applies the left and side value to the first parameter of the right side.

Example

upcase = -> a { a.upcase }
reverse = -> a { a.reverse }

"desserts" >>+ upcase >>+ reverse
# => "stressed"

reverse.(upcase.("this is a test"))

This pipe operator is not associative

Live Example