A short introduction to monad which doesn't involve math. Code samples are written in C# language for demonstration purpose. The monad concept is generic in any programming language. References: https://weblogs.asp.net/dixin/Tags/Category%20Theory https://davesquared.net/categories/functional-programming/ https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/elevated-world/ https://www.ahnfelt.net/monads-forget-about-bind/ https://mikhail.io/tags/functional-programming/ http://adit.io/posts/2013-06-10-three-useful-monads.html http://learnyouahaskell.com/a-fistful-of-monads https://bartoszmilewski.com/2014/10/28/category-theory-for-programmers-the-preface/ https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/elevated-world/#series-toc https://kubuszok.com/2018/different-ways-to-understand-a-monad/ https://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2011/01/monads-in-c1-introduction.html

1. Monad

2. CATEGORY THEORY
A monad is just a monoid in the category of
endofunctors, what's the problem?

3. SIMPLE ENGLISH
A monad is just a design pattern in
functional programming

4. BUT I DON’T USE FUNCTIONAL
PROGRAMMING
Function without side-effects
Functional composition
No shared state
Immutable objects

5. FUNCTIONS COMPOSITION
14
Calculate
length
"QQOME
QQSTRING"
Replace
"S" with
"QQ"
"SOME
STRING"
ToUpper
"some
string"

6. NULLABLE<T> - HOLDS EITHER T OR NULL
Nullable<int> a = new Nullable<int>(1);
Nullable<int> b = new Nullable<int>(2);
Nullable<int> c = a + b;
Nullable<int> c =
a.HasValue && b.HasValue
? new Nullable<int>(a.Value + b.Value)
: new Nullable<int>(null);

7. IENUMERABLE<T> - SEQUENCE
IEnumerable<int> a = new[]{1};
IEnumerable<int> b = new[]{2};
IEnumerable<int> c = from x in a from y in b select x + y;
IEnumerable<int> c = a.SelectMany(x => b, (x, y) => x+y);

8. TASK<T> - ASYNCHRONOUS
COMPUTATION
Task<int> a = Task.Run(() ⇒ 1);
Task<int> b = Task.Run(() ⇒ 2);
Task<int> c =
a.ContinueWith(x ⇒
b.ContinueWith(y ⇒
x.Result + y.Result)).Unwrap();
ContinueWith(Task<TResult> ⇒ TNewResult): Task<TNewResult>
Unwrap(Task<Task<TResult>>): Task<TResult>

9. SPECIALIZED SOLUTION
● Nullable - C♯ 2: arithmetic, “??” operator
●IEnumerable/IObservable - C♯ 3: LINQ
●Task - C♯ 5: async / await
●My cool class - No language support :-/

10. WHAT IF WE HAD SAME SYNTAX
do
a <- f()
b <- g()
return a + b

11. IS IT POSSIBLE ?
var a = f();
var b = g();
return from x in a from y in b select x + y;

12. ● With following abilities:
○ Can be created (constructor or special method)
○ Make projection with internal value producing a new
Monad<U> (Map).
○ Can flatten Monad of Monad into Monad (Join)
● Immutable, without side effects.
● Monad contract doesn’t require to provide the held value !
MONAD IS A GENERIC TYPE M OVER T

13. MONAD FUNCTIONS: FLATTENING
Join: (monadOfMonad: Monad<Monad<T>>) ⇒ Monad<T>

14. MONAD FUNCTIONS: PROJECTION
Map: (monad: Monad<T>, projFunc: T ⇒ U) ⇒ Monad<U>

15. WHAT IS THE SIMPLEST MONAD ?
● ✅ Generic type: class Identity<T>
● ✅ Can be created: new Identity<T>(value)
● ✅ Projection: Map(func, value) ≡ func(value)
● ✅ Flattening:
Join(Identity<Identity<T>> value) ≡ Identity<T>(value)

16. CAN IENUMERABLE<T> BE A MONAD ?
● ✅ Generic type
● ✅ Can be created: new[]{...}, yield return value
● ✅ Projection: myIEnumerable.Select(value ⇒ value.ToString())
[1, 2…] ⇒ [“1”, “2”…]
● ✅ Flattening:
myIEnumerableOfIEnumerables.SelectMany(value ⇒ value)
[[1, 2], [3, 4]…] ⇒ [1, 2, 3, 4…]

17. MONAD FUNCTIONS: BINDING
Bind: (monad: Monad<T>, bindFunc: T ⇒ Monad<U>) ⇒ Monad<U>

18. COMBINING ALL TOGETHER
● Join: (mm: Monad<Monad<T>>) ⇒ Monad<T>
● Map: (monad: Monad<T>, projFunc: T ⇒ U) ⇒ Monad<U>
● Bind: (monad: Monad<T>, bindFunc: T ⇒ Monad<U>) ⇒ Monad<U>
● Bind ≡ monad.Map(value ⇒ bindFunc(value)).Join()
● Join ≡ monadOfMonad.Bind(monad ⇒ monad)
● Map ≡ monad.Bind(value ⇒ new Monad(projFunc(value)))

19. ● return ⇔ Monad constructor
● q >=> w ≡ m ⇒ q(m.Bind(w))
IS THAT ALL ?
●3 monad laws
○ Left identity: return >=> g ≡ g
○ Right identity: f >=> return ≡ f
○ Associativity: (f >=> g) >=> h ≡ f >=> (g >=> h)

20. LEFT IDENTITY
Monad constructor bound with a function is just a function
called with the value stored in the monad
// Given
T value
Func<T, Monad<U>> valueToMonad // T ⇒Monad<U>
// Then
new Monad<T>(value).Bind(valueToMonad) ≡ valueToMonad(value)

21. LEFT IDENTITY
Monad constructor bound with function is just a function
called with the value stored in the monad

22. // Given
Monad<T> monad
// Then
monad.Bind(x ⇒ new Monad<T>(x)) ≡ monad
RIGHT IDENTITY
Binding monadic value to the same monad type doesn’t
change the original value.

23. RIGHT IDENTITY
Binding monadic value to the same monad type doesn’t
change the original value.

24. // Given
Monad<T> m
Func<T, Monad<U>> f // T ⇒Monad<U>
Func<U, Monad<V>> g // U ⇒Monad<V>
// Then
m.Bind(f).Bind(g) ≡ m.Bind(a ⇒ f(a).Bind(g))
ASSOCIATIVITY
The order in which Bind operations are
composed does not matter

25. ASSOCIATIVITY
The order in which Bind operations are
composed does not matter

26. public static IEnumerable<TResult> SelectMany<TSource, TResult>(
this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, IEnumerable<TResult>> selector)
Flatten = SelectMany(x ⇒ x)
public static IEnumerable<TResult> Select<TSource, TResult>(
this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, TResult> selector)
public static Monad<TResult> Bind<TSource, TResult>(
this Monad<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, Monad<TResult>> selector)
Join = Bind(x ⇒ x)
public static Monad<TResult> Map<TSource, TResult>(
this Monad<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, TResult> selector)
SO, IS IENUMERABLE<T> A MONAD ?

27. new Monad<T>(value).Bind(valueToMonad) ≡ valueToMonad(value)
[1].SelectMany(value ⇒ [value.ToString()]) ≡
[1].Select(value => [value.ToString()]).Flatten() ≡ [[“1”]].Flatten() ≡ [“1”]
(value ⇒ [value.ToString()])(1) ≡ [“1”]
IENUMERABLE<T> - LEFT IDENTITY

28. monad.Bind(x ⇒ new Monad<T>(x)) ≡ monad
[1, 2…].SelectMany(value ⇒ [value]) ≡ [1, 2…]
[1, 2…].Select(value => [value]).Flatten() ≡
[[1], [2]..].Flatten() ≡ [1, 2…]
IENUMERABLE<T> - RIGHT IDENTITY

29. m.Bind(f).Bind(g) ≡ m.Bind(a ⇒ f(a).Bind(g))
[1, 2…].SelectMany(value ⇒ [value + 1])
.SelectMany(value ⇒ [value.ToString()])
[1, 2…].SelectMany(
value => ([value + 1]) .SelectMany(value ⇒ [value.ToString()])
) ≡ [“2”, “3”…]
IENUMERABLE<T> - ASSOCIATIVITY
[2, 3…]
[2] [“2”], [3]… , [“3”]…
[“2”, “3”…]

30. MORE MONADS
● Maybe (Nullable, Optional)
● Logging: Log while calculating value
● State: Preserve state between functions call
● Ordering: See next slide
● Parser: See next slide

31. COMPUTATION ORDER - PROBLEM
Task<int> x = Task.Run(() => { Write(1); return 1; });
Task<int> y = Task.Run(() => { Write(2); return 2; });
Task<int> z = Task.Run(() => { Write(3); return 3; });
return x + y + z;

32. COMPUTATION ORDER - SOLUTION
Task.Run(() => { Write(1); return 1; }).Bind(x =>
Task.Run(() => { Write(2); return 2; }).Bind(y =>
Task.Run(() => { Write(3); return 3; }).Bind(z =>
x + y + z)))

33. MONAD DEFINES ORDER
int x = f();
int y = g();
int z = h();
return x + y + z;
f().Bind(x =>
g().Bind(y =>
h().Bind(z =>
x + y + z)));
Monad<int> f();
Monad<int> g();
Monad<int> h();

34. DOES LINQ USE IENUMERABLE AS A MONAD ?
What you see
from x in a
from y in b
from z in c
select x + y + z;
What is the truth
a.SelectMany(
x => b,
(x, y) => new {x, y})
.SelectMany(
@t => c,
(@t, z) => @t.x + @t.y + z);
What you think
a.SelectMany(x =>
b.SelectMany(y =>
c.SelectMany(z =>
yield return x + y + z)));

35. MONAIDIC PARSER SAMPLE
static readonly Parser<Expression> Function =
from name in Parse.Letter.AtLeastOnce().Text()
from lparen in Parse.Char('(')
from expr in Parse.Ref(() => Expr).DelimitedBy(Parse.Char(',').Token())
from rparen in Parse.Char(')')
select CallFunction(name, expr.ToArray());
static readonly Parser<Expression> Constant =
Parse.Decimal.Select(x => Expression.Constant(double.Parse(x)))
.Named("number");
static readonly Parser<Expression> Factor =
(from lparen in Parse.Char('(')
from expr in Parse.Ref(() => Expr)
from rparen in Parse.Char(')')
select expr).Named("expression").XOr(Constant).XOr(Function);

36. SUMMARY
● Monad concept is simple
● Monads hold value but doesn’t give it to you
● Allows writing generic code
● Easier to test, easier to maintain
● Language support is an advantage

37. REFERENCES
https://weblogs.asp.net/dixin/Tags/Category%20Theory
https://davesquared.net/categories/functional-programming/
https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/elevated-world/
https://www.ahnfelt.net/monads-forget-about-bind/
https://mikhail.io/tags/functional-programming/
http://adit.io/posts/2013-06-10-three-useful-monads.html
http://learnyouahaskell.com/a-fistful-of-monads
https://bartoszmilewski.com/2014/10/28/category-theory-for-programmers-the-preface/
https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/elevated-world/#series-toc
https://kubuszok.com/2018/different-ways-to-understand-a-monad/
https://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2011/01/monads-in-c1-introduction.html