Slides from a tech talk I gave at Fullstack Academy on functional programming concepts, as implemented in JavaScript

1. f(s(a));
Functional Programming in
JavaScript

2. ...which is what, exactly?
Functional programming is a programming paradigm that
emphasizes:
Immutable data over mutable data
Pure functions over functions with side effects
Expressions over statements

3. Traditional imperative/object-oriented
programming uses...
Mutable state/variables
For loops over recursion
Functions with side effects

4. But...What if I told you...
You don't need for loops and mutable variables

6. In order to avoid mutable variables, for loops, etc., functional
programmers emphasize a few key concepts

7. Pure functions
No side effects
Referential transparency - if it is called with the same
arguments, it will always output the same value
No data dependency between pure functions - order and
parellelization will not effect how the function runs

8. Recursion
Can be used in place of traditional looping
Traditional application for a loop: summing a range
function sumRange(start, end) {
var total = 0;
for (var i = start; i <= end; i++)
total += i;
return total;
}
sumRange(1, 10); // returns 55

9. Now, with recursion...
function sumRange(start, end, acc) {
return start > end? acc: sumRange(start + 1, end, acc + start);
}
sumRange(1, 10, 0); // also returns 55, but cooler

10. But wait, recursion is slow!
Not necessarily!

11. Tail Call Optimization
Implemented as of ES2015 ("ES6")
ES2015 compilers can optimize tail recursive functions in
strict mode
What is a tail recursive function?
A function whose main recursive call is in tail position (i.e.,
the recursive call is the last call in the function)

12. Higher order/ rst-class
functions

13. But rst, a little history...
In the 1930's, mathmatician Alonzo Church invented λ
("lambda") calculus, a model of computation based on
function abstraction, variable binding and substitution
This gave programmers a useful tool called the λ function
AKA the "anonymous function"

14. In JavaScript, λ functions are possible because functions are
rst-class objects. They can be:
Stored in variables
Passed to functions
Returned from functions
This allows us to use a very cool functional programming
technique called...

15. Currying

16. Currying is a functional programming technique that allows
us to transform a function of arity (the number of arguments
a function takes) N into a chain of N functions of arity 1
A currying function allows us to partially apply functions in a
very useful, exible way:
function sumThree(a, b, c) {
return a + b + c;
}
var curriedSumThree = curry(sumThree);
curriedSumThree(1)(2)(3); // 6
curriedSumThree(1,2)(3); // 6
curriedSumThree(1,2,3); // 6
curriedSumThree(1)(2,3); // 6

17. ...how?
ES2015 makes writing a curry function pretty straightfoward
using arrow functions and the rest/spread syntax
function curry(fn) {
return function curried(...args) {
return args.length >= fn.length ?
fn.call(this, ...args) :
(...rest) => {
return curried.call(this, ...args, ...rest);
};
};
}
Source: http://www.datchley.name/currying-vs-partial-application/

18. Ok...but why?
It's cool
DRY - Tiny, little, exible, reusable functions
Because, with currying, we can very easily perform...

19. Function composition
Composition allows us to put together functions in a
compact, readible syntax that accurately re ects what we are
trying to do with our code
const add = (x, y) => x + y;
const mult = (x, y) => x * y;
const curriedAdd = curry(add);
const curriedMult = curry(mult);
const add2 = curriedAdd(2);
const mult3 = curriedMult(3);
const add2AfterMult3 = compose(add2, mult3);
add2AfterMult3(4); // returns 14

21. The compose function
Recursion + the rest/spread syntax allows us to express this
very concisely
const compose = (f, ...rest) =>
!rest.length? f: (...args) => f(compose(...rest)(...args));

22. Limitations
JavaScript is not a purely functional language. Among other
things, it lacks:
True immutability: even 'const' does not truly prevent you
from mutating data, e.g.:
Built-in function composition
Automatically curried functions
const user = {name: "johnson", number: 85};
user.name = "ochocinco"; // no error!

23. Some functional JS libraries
lodash.js, underscore.js, lazy.js, ramda.js: Utility libraries
that provide FP functionality, including composition and
currying, as well as the usual suspects(map, reduce, lter,
etc.). Lodash and Lazy.js are particularly interesting for
their use of lazy evaluation, a concept associated with FP,
to optimize performance
immutable.js - Provides immutable data structures

24. Purely functional languages
These provide enhanced functional programming
features/performance, and often force you into a functional
programming style
Haskell
Elm
There are also many "impure" functional languages that are still
"more" functional than JavaScript, including:
Scala
Clojure
Lisp
Erlang

25. Happy hacking!