FlatMap 

We get to start a new chapter today on Learn You a Haskell for Great Good.

Monads are a natural extension applicative functors, and they provide a solution to the following problem: If we have a value with context, m a, how do we apply it to a function that takes a normal a and returns a value with a context.

Cats breaks down the Monad typeclass into two typeclasses: FlatMap and Monad. Here’s the typeclass contract for FlatMap:

@typeclass trait FlatMap[F[_]] extends Apply[F] {
  def flatMap[A, B](fa: F[A])(f: A => F[B]): F[B]

  def tailRecM[A, B](a: A)(f: A => F[Either[A, B]]): F[B]

  ....
}

Note that FlatMap extends Apply, the weaker version of Applicative. And here are the operators:

class FlatMapOps[F[_], A](fa: F[A])(implicit F: FlatMap[F]) {
  def flatMap[B](f: A => F[B]): F[B] = F.flatMap(fa)(f)
  def mproduct[B](f: A => F[B]): F[(A, B)] = F.mproduct(fa)(f)
  def >>=[B](f: A => F[B]): F[B] = F.flatMap(fa)(f)
  def >>[B](fb: F[B]): F[B] = F.flatMap(fa)(_ => fb)
}

It introduces the flatMap operator and its symbolic alias >>=. We’ll worry about the other operators later. We are used to flapMap from the standard library:

import cats._, cats.syntax.all._

(Right(3): Either[String, Int]) flatMap { x => Right(x + 1) }
// res0: Either[String, Int] = Right(value = 4)

Getting our feet wet with Option 

Following the book, let’s explore Option. In this section I’ll be less fussy about whether it’s using Cats’ typeclass or standard library’s implementation. Here’s Option as a functor:

"wisdom".some map { _ + "!" }
// res1: Option[String] = Some(value = "wisdom!")

none[String] map { _ + "!" }
// res2: Option[String] = None

Here’s Option as an Apply:

({(_: Int) + 3}.some) ap 3.some
// res3: Option[Int] = Some(value = 6)

none[String => String] ap "greed".some
// res4: Option[String] = None

({(_: String).toInt}.some) ap none[String]
// res5: Option[Int] = None

Here’s Option as a FlatMap:

3.some flatMap { (x: Int) => (x + 1).some }
// res6: Option[Int] = Some(value = 4)

"smile".some flatMap { (x: String) =>  (x + " :)").some }
// res7: Option[String] = Some(value = "smile :)")

none[Int] flatMap { (x: Int) => (x + 1).some }
// res8: Option[Int] = None

none[String] flatMap { (x: String) =>  (x + " :)").some }
// res9: Option[String] = None

Just as expected, we get None if the monadic value is None.

FlatMap laws 

FlatMap has a single law called associativity:

• associativity: (m flatMap f) flatMap g === m flatMap { x => f(x) flatMap {g} }

Cats defines two more laws in FlatMapLaws:

trait FlatMapLaws[F[_]] extends ApplyLaws[F] {
  implicit override def F: FlatMap[F]

  def flatMapAssociativity[A, B, C](fa: F[A], f: A => F[B], g: B => F[C]): IsEq[F[C]] =
    fa.flatMap(f).flatMap(g) <-> fa.flatMap(a => f(a).flatMap(g))

  def flatMapConsistentApply[A, B](fa: F[A], fab: F[A => B]): IsEq[F[B]] =
    fab.ap(fa) <-> fab.flatMap(f => fa.map(f))

  /**
   * The composition of `cats.data.Kleisli` arrows is associative. This is
   * analogous to [[flatMapAssociativity]].
   */
  def kleisliAssociativity[A, B, C, D](f: A => F[B], g: B => F[C], h: C => F[D], a: A): IsEq[F[D]] = {
    val (kf, kg, kh) = (Kleisli(f), Kleisli(g), Kleisli(h))
    ((kf andThen kg) andThen kh).run(a) <-> (kf andThen (kg andThen kh)).run(a)
  }
}