An Introduction to Functional Programming
This book bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, focusing on how concepts from lambda calculus emerge in real-world programming languages like Haskell, OCaml, and Rust. It covers essential topics including pattern matching, type inference, and declarative paradigms.
- Currying and partial application
- Fold/unfold operations with List structures
- Monadic type systems and their syntax
- Lazy evaluation and memoization strategies
Example (Haskell)
-- Factorial with pattern matching
factorial :: Int -> Int
factorial 0 = 1
factorial n = n * factorial (n - 1)
-- Composed functions example
processData = map (*2) . filter (\x -> x > 3)Demonstrates pattern matching for base cases and function composition using dot operator.
Historical Significance
Published in 1990 by Mike Fourman and John Reynolds, this textbook was one of the first to make functional programming accessible beyond academic circles. It introduced concepts like Hindley-Milner type inference and monad usage patterns that remain foundational to modern FP.
1990
Original Publication
2005
Second Edition
2020
Modernization
Financial Systems
Used extensively in high-frequency trading algorithms for its mathematical guarantees and concurrency-friendly design. The book's section on parallel reductions directly aligns with modern quantitative finance implementations.
Compilers and Interpreters
The theory of pattern-matching and type erasure described in this textbook directly influences modern compiler design for languages like Kotlin and Scala.