Monads in Elixir

http://www.zohaib.me/monads-in-elixir-2/

by zabi_rauf • 11 years ago

40 8 11 years ago

kaeluka• 11 years ago

This is an example where you'd really want static types for ergonomics. Having to name the monad explicitly does not allow to write generic code (i.e, instead of saying `Maybe.return` to just say `return).

LesZedCB• 11 years ago

Yes, in writing ruby during my day job, I often have conflicting feelings about dynamic typing. The other advantage would be being able to do real static analysis, I would love that.

rozap• 11 years ago

In Elixir you can annotate functions with type signatures and then use a tool like Dialyzer(1) to perform static analysis on the compiled bytecode. There is tooling that integrates with mix in Elixir called which makes this easy(2)

1) http://www.erlang.org/doc/apps/dialyzer/dialyzer_chapter.htm... 2) https://github.com/jeremyjh/dialyxir

pbowyer• 11 years ago

This post is not about what monads are, I expect that you already know about them.

And a good resource if you don't would be..?

I enjoyed watching [1] last week so I suspect I have seen the concept, even if I don't grasp what's meant by a monad.

1. https://vimeo.com/113707214

jameskilton• 11 years ago

This talk is so far the best at explaining what Monads are for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1jYlPtkrqQ (Tom Stuart: Refactoring Ruby with Monads)

smosher_• 11 years ago

Philip Wadler's paper Monads for functional programming is the first thing I read that made any sense. FYI this is the horse's mouth.

zabi_rauf• 11 years ago

I've seen the same video before i knew what a monad was, it helped me in understanding the use case of monad and ultimately monad. Monad is just a generalization of that particular use case. Some resources that helped me in understanding monads

1. Brian Beckman: Don't fear the Monad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhuHCtR3xq8&feature=share

2. Functors, Applicatives, And Monads In Pictures - http://adit.io/posts/2013-04-17-functors,_applicatives,_and_...

3. Three Useful Monads - http://adit.io/posts/2013-06-10-three-useful-monads.html

So its been not just one resource but multiple resource before it hit me that it was such a simple concept. So i would suggest to go over them (in order) and also look at other resources (mentioned by others).

MCRed• 11 years ago

OMG, the famous Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" skit is replayed in that vimeo talk (from NDC) about Monads. Love it.

But it's a good video, thanks.

Monads in Elixir

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