Advanced functional programming with Scala

Coordinator:

Juan Manuel Serrano

Instructor:

Javier Fuentes

Location:
Parque Científico Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Start:
13/1/17
Duration:
Fridays, 16:00h. Four consecutive sessions of four hours each.
Language:
Spanish

Overview

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to three programming styles endorsed by functional programming: datatype generic, applicative and monadic programming. We also delve into the concept of algebra and compare the two major ways of representing algebras in functional programming: either as object-algebras, using type classes, or as F-algebras, using algebraic data types, natural transformations, and so forth. Throughout the course, we use Scala and its awesome ecosystem of frameworks and libraries for functional programming. In particular, we built upon the generic programming library shapeless, and the type class libraries scalaz and cats. We also make ocassional reference to property-based testing and the Scalacheck library. For each programming style, we describe the kinds of problems they are intended to solve, their constituent software abstractions and their implementation by different libraries.

Audience

  • Scala Programmers with moderate knowledge of functional programming, tired of reinventing the wheel each time they must define a new monad or instantiate a type class, for instance
  • Programmers with deep knowledge of functional programming, but moderate knowledge of Scala and its ecosystem for functional programming

    Objectives

    At the end of the course, attendees should be able to:
  • Identify the different modularity techniques endorsed by functional programming: from parametric and ad-hoc polimorphism (i.e. type classes), to datatype generic programming, languages and interpreters, etc.
  • Understand the design patterns used in the implementation of the signature, laws, derived operations, instances and syntactic facilities of type classes, both in Scalaz and Cats.
  • Understand how monad transformers work, and the common transformer instances of monadic type classes: StateT (MonadState), EitherT (MonadError), etc.
  • Understand the concept of algebra in functional programming, and the different ways of representing them: either with type classes (object algebras) or algebraic data types (F-algebras).
  • Understand Generalised ADTs, natural transformations and Free monads, and know when to use these ADT-based representations instead of object algebras and Church encodings.
  • Understand the differences between the applicative and monadic (i.e. imperative) programming styles, their major applications, and their support in scalaz and cats!
  • Understand the concept of "free structure" and use it in the implementation of monadic and applicative languages
  • Understand the role of heterogeneous lists (aka HList) and coproducts to abstract away the particular shapes of algebraic data types (ADTs), and implement generic algorithms that work at this level of abstraction, e.g. to automatically derive type classes. All of this using shapeless!
  • Understand the overall internal architecture of Shapeless, scalaz and cats, and the most advanced Scala tricks used in their implementation, thus taking your Scala expertise to the next level
  • Learn more functional programming yourself!

    Outline

    • Type class libraries: Scalaz & Cats
      • Scalaz & Cats overview
      • Type classes: Monad, MonadState, MonadError, etc.
      • Monad transformers: StateT, EitherT, etc.
    • Algebras and functional programming
      • F-algebras and object-algebras
      • GADTs and natural transformations
      • Free structures: free monoids and free monads
    • Applicative programming
      • Applicative functors
      • Traversables
      • Free applicatives
    • Datatype generic programming
      • Shapeless architecture
      • HList & Coproduct representations of ADTs
      • Automatic type class derivation

    Organization

    • The course runs over four consecutive Fridays, each session running for four hours. Setup instructions will be made available well in advance, so that attendees can bring their laptops properly configured to the classroom.
    • Explanations during sessions will alternate between slides and live coding, with a preference for the later. Small exercises and challenges will be proposed after each major block of contents, and solved in the classroom.
    • The course will be taught in Spanish.
    • After each session, attendees will be encouraged to complete a number of additional exercises on Github. Habla Computing trainers will provide feedback via code reviews for those who completed this coursework in due time. A chat room will also be made available to offer guidance and foster collaboration among course attendees.

    About the coordinator

    The course is coordinated by Juan Manuel Serrano. Juan Manuel is CTO and co-founder of Habla Computing. He has been using Scala for the last six years in real-world applications for the banking sector, and has extensive experience in consultancy projects with Scalaz, Cats, and other frameworks of the Scala ecosystem. He founded and manages the Madrid Scala Meetup group and is member of the organizing committee of lambda.world, the premier Spanish conference of functional programming for the software practitioner. Prior to joining Habla Computing, Juan Manuel was a University teacher for more than fifteen years in different computer science and software engineering degrees.

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