FunctionKit

A framework for functional types and operations designed to fit naturally into Swift.

Background
Goals
Usage
Installation
References
License

Background

As a language with first-class functions, Swift supports the use of functions as values. This means that functions can be stored in variables and passed as arguments to other functions.

You’ve probably encountered some of Swift’s functional API when working with sequences:

let numbers = 1...5
let incrementedNumbers = numbers.map { $0 + 1 }   // [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
let evenNumbers = numbers.filter { $0 % 2 == 0 }  // [2, 4]

Suppose we’re doing some simple input sanitization for a user’s name entry. We might proceed in several steps:

let name = nameTextField.text
let withoutExtraWhitespace = removeExtraWhitespace(name)
let withoutEmojis = removeWeirdUnicodeCharacters(withoutExtraWhitespace)
let properlyCapitalized = capitalizeProperly(withoutEmojis)

This looks like a job for a helper function. Let’s write a quick one:

func sanitize(name: String) -> String {
    let withoutExtraWhitespace = removeExtraWhitespace(name)
    let withoutEmojis = removeWeirdUnicodeCharacters(withoutExtraWhitespace)
    let properlyCapitalized = capitalizeProperly(withoutEmojis)
    return properlyCapitalized
}

You might even choose to write this in a one-liner:

func sanitize(name: String) -> String {
    return properlyCapitalized(withoutEmojis(removeExtraWhitespace(name)))
}

Unfortunately, as we call more functions on the same input, we appear to fall into one of two problems, depending on our approach:

An excess of local variables to separate out the steps.
A parenthetical mess.

While the optimizer should ensure the functionality is the same in either case, option 1 feels unnecessarily verbose, and option 2 is a significant hindrance to the left-to-right readability of code.

FunctionKit allows us to rewrite this function simply, clearly, and declaratively using composition:

let sanitize = Function.pipeline(removeExtraWhitespace, removeWeirdUnicodeCharacters, capitalizeProperly)
let sanitizedNames = names.map(sanitize)

What’s happening here?

During a math course at some point in your life, you were probably introduced to the idea of function composition:

(g ∘ f)(x) = g(f(x))

The basic idea is that a new function can be created by taking the output of one function and using it as the input for another.

We use the Function type to wrap a Swift function and provide it with powerful new functionality—pun intended. The static pipeline method pipes forward the output of each function into the next. The piped(into:) instance method does the same for an individual function.

We can use composition to transform type, too:

let sanitizedCount = sanitize.piped(into: { $0.count })
let sanitizedNameCounts = names.map(sanitizedCount) // [Int]

By employing functions as composable, transformative units, we enhance modularity and expressivity. FunctionKit provides a number of tools to make working with functional types easy.

Goals

Clarity — FunctionKit aims for clarity at the point of use. Method names follow terms of art where appropriate but do not shy away from explicit descriptions of intent.
Intuitiveness — By wrapping a Swift function in a Function object, it gains access to powerful functional operations such as composition and currying through clear, easily-discoverable instance methods.
Simplicity — Function methods that take other Function objects as input have overloads to support Swift functions directly, and native Swift methods like Sequence.map have overloads to take Function objects. The result is a simpler, more intuitive, clearer API.

Important: It is a non-goal of FunctionKit to turn Swift into a purely functional programming language. FunctionKit embraces and enhances Swift’s functional capabilities in a way that fits naturally into the language.

FunctionKit favors the method dot-syntax of iterative languages over free functions or operators. For more traditional applications of functional programming constructs in Swift, see Overture, Prelude, and Swiftz.

Usage

The principal unit of FunctionKit is the Function type, which wraps a Swift function. Create a Function using its initializer:

let makeRandom = Function(arc4random_uniform)              // Function<UInt32, UInt32>
let stringFromData = Function(String.init(data:encoding:)) // Function<(Data, String.Encoding), String?>
let increment = Function { (x: Int) in x + 1 }             // Function<Int, Int>

Alternatively, use one of the static methods described later in this section to initialize a Function by composing several Swift functions.

To invoke a Function, use the apply(_:) method.

let random = makeRandom.apply(100)               // 42, perhaps
let parsed = stringFromData.apply(Data(), .utf8) // Optional<String>.some("")
let incremented = increment.apply(6)             // 7

Once wrapped in a Function, the gateway to powerful functional API is open.

Functional Operations

The following functional operations are supported through the Function type:

Forward Composition

Forward composition is the process of creating a new function by piping the output of one function into another. The process of forward composition can be described as

pipe (A) -> B (B) -> C => (A) -> C

To forward compose functions, use the piped(into:) method:

let sanitize = Function(removeExtraWhitespace).piped(into: capitalizeProperly) // Function<String, String>

A sequence of functions can be forward-composed using the static pipeline method:

let sanitizedCount = Function.pipeline(removeExtraWhitespace, capitalizeProperly, { $0.count }) // Function<String, Int>

Concatenation

Concatenation is forward composition of functions whose input and output types are the same. The process of concatenation can be described as

concatenate (A) -> A (A) -> A => (A) -> A

While this functionality is fully provided by normal forward composition, it is immediately obvious at the callsite of a concatenation that type remains unchanged. As such, concatenation is a valuable operation for enhancing type safety and clarity of intent.

To concatenate functions, use the concatenated(with:) method:

let sanitize = Function(removeExtraWhitespace).concatenated(with: capitalizeProperly) // Function<String, String>

A sequence of functions can be concatenated with the static concatenation method:

let sanitize = Function.concatenation(removeExtraWhitespace, removeWeirdUnicodeCharacters, capitalizeProperly) // Function<String, String>

Optional Chaining

Chaining is forward composition of functions that return Optional values. If any function in the chain returns nil, the whole function returns nil. The process of chaining can be described as

chain (A) -> B? (B) -> C? => (A) -> C?

To chain functions, use the chained(with:) method:

let urlStringHost = Function(URL.init(string:)).chained(with: { $0.host }) // Function<String, String?>

A sequence of Optional-returning functions can be chained using the static chain method:

let urlStringHostFirstCharacter = Function.chain(URL.init(string:), { $0.host }, { $0.first }) // Function<String, Character?>

Backward Composition

Backward composition is the process of creating a new function by applying a function to the output of another. The process of backwards composition can be described as

compose (B) -> C (A) -> B => (A) -> C

While this functionality is fully provided by forward composition when the arguments are in the opposite order, it is sometimes more expressive to write code using backward composition. It may be useful to think of backward composition as “lifting” a function on one type to a function on another type.

To backward compose functions, use the composed(with:) method:

let sanitize = Function(capitalizeProperly).composed(with: removeExtraWhitespace) // Function<String, String>

A sequence of functions can be backward-composed with the static composition method:

let sanitizedCount = Function.composition({ $0.count }, removeExtraWhitespace, capitalizeProperly) // Function<String, Int>

Currying

Currying is the process of a splitting a function that takes a tuple input argument into a sequence of functions. The process of currying a two-argument function can be described as

curry (A, B) -> C => (A) -> (B) -> C

A curried function takes a single argument and returns a function.

Currying is useful for partially applying a function, i.e. providing a value for one of its arguments to produce a function that takes one fewer argument.

For example, using the curried() method, we can curry and partially apply integer addition:

// CurriedTwoArgumentFunction<A, B, C> is a typealias for Function<A, Function<B, C>>.
let curriedAdd: CurriedTwoArgumentFunction<Int, Int, Int> = Function(+).curried()
let addToFive = curriedAdd.apply(5) // Function<Int, Int>
addToFive.apply(3)  // 8
addToFive.apply(20) // 25

When partially applying a function, it can be helpful to flip the order of its arguments using the flippingFirstTwoArguments() method:

// In describing the steps below, standard Swift function notation will be used over `Function` type notation 
// to demonstrate the operations performed more clearly.
let utf8StringFromData =
    Function(String.init(data:encoding:)) // (Data, String.Encoding) -> String?
        .curried()                        // (Data) -> (String.Encoding) -> String?
        .flippingFirstTwoArguments()      // (String.Encoding) -> (Data) -> String?
        .apply(.utf8)                      // (Data) -> String?

While curried functions typically provide the most flexibility, it can be useful to uncurry a curried function. The process of uncurrying two arguments can be described as

uncurry (A) -> (B) -> C => (A, B) -> C

For example, using the uncurried() method, we can uncurry an unapplied method reference:

let stringHasPrefix = String.hasPrefix                         // (String) -> (String) -> Bool 
let uncurriedHasPrefix = Function(stringHasPrefix).uncurried() // Function<(String, String), Bool> 
uncurriedHasPrefix.apply("function", "func")                   // true

Note: The behavior of unapplied method references may change if SE-0042 is implemented.

KeyPath Support

The static get method takes in a KeyPath<Root, Value> and returns a function that extracts the value from the root.

// The following two functions have the same effect:
let getStringCount1: Function<String, Int> = .init { $0.count }
let getStringCount2 = Function.get(\String.count)

The static update method takes in a WritableKeyPath<Root, Value> and returns a setter function that propogates an update to the property of a type to an update to an instance of that type.

struct Person {
    var name: String
}

let updateName = Function.update(\Person.name)           // Function<Function<String, String>, Function<Person, Person>>
let lowercaseName = updateName.apply { $0.lowercased() } // Function<Person, Person>
let MICHAEL = Person(name: "MICHAEL")
let michael = lowercaseName.apply(MICHAEL)
// michael.name == "michael"

Warning: Using a function produced by update with mutable reference types may result in unexpected behavior.

Special Function Types

Certain function types are particularly common for their uses in common tasks, such as filtering and sorting. FunctionKit provides additional API for the following types:

`Consumer` and `Provider`

The Consumer type is defined as

typealias Consumer<Input> = Function<Input, Void>

The Consumer type describes a function that produces no output, such as one that modifies state or logs data. Consumer instances can be chained with the then(_:) method:

let handleError = Consumer<Error>
    .init(presentError)
    .then(analyticsManager.logError)

The Consumer type is appropriate for use with mutable reference types:

let configureLabel = Consumer<UILabel>
    .init(stylizeFont)
    .then { $0.numberOfLines = 0 }
    .then(view.addSubview)
    
configureLabel.apply(detailLabel)

Note: Consumer is not designed to model inout functions, which mutate value types. A separate class exists for this purpose.

The Provider type is defined as

typealias Provider<Output> = Function<Void, Output>

The Provider type describes factory methods that can produce output without being passed input. They can be invoked with the make() method:

let timestampProvider = Provider(Date.init)
let now = timestampProvider.make()

let idProvider = Provider(IdentifierFactory.makeId)
let id = idProvider.make()

`Predicate`

The Predicate type is defined as

typealias Predicate<Input> = Function<Input, Bool>

Predicate instances are useful for validating input and filtering. They can be invoked with the test(_:) method, negated with the negated() method or the prefix ! operator, and logically combined with the infix && and || operators.

Because certain predicates are so common, additional static functions like isEqualTo(_:), isLessThan(_:), and isInRange(_:) are also provided.

let hasValidLength: Predicate<String> = Function
    .get(\String.count)
    .piped(into: .isInRange(4...12))

let usesValidCharacters = Predicate<String>
    .init { $0.contains(where: invalidCharacters.contains) }
    .negated()

let isValidUsername = hasValidLength && usesValidCharacters

Predicate instances can also be created using the static all(of:) and any(of:) methods:

let isOddPositiveMultipleOfThree: Predicate<Int> = 
    .all(of:
        { $0 % 2 != 0 },
        { $0 > 0 },
        { $0 % 3 == 0 }
    )
    
(-15...15).filter(isOddPositiveMultipleOfThree) // [3, 9, 15]

`Comparator`

The Comparator type is defined as

typealias Comparator<T> = Function<(T, T), Foundation.ComparisonResult>

Comparator instances are useful for comparing two values of the same type, particularly for sorting. They can be created in a variety of ways:

A Comparator on a Comparable type can be created with the static naturalOrder() and reverseOrder() methods.
A Comparator on a type can be created based on one of its Comparable properties with the static comparing(by:) method.
A Comparator on a type can be created based on one of its Optional Comparable properties with the static nilValuesFirst(by:) and nilValuesLast(by:) methods.

Once created, Comparator instances can be:

sequenced with the thenComparing(by:) method.
reversed with the reversed() method.
lifted to a Comparator on another type with the lifting(with:) method.

struct User {
    let id: Int
    let signupDate: Date
    let email: String?
}

// Compares `User` instances, where
// - emails are compared lexicographically, with `nil` values coming after non-`nil` values
// - ties (i.e. two emails are the same, or both are `nil`) are broken by comparing the users' ids, with the lower id coming first.
let userEmailThenId = Comparator<User>
    .nilValuesLast(by: { $0.email })
    .thenComparing(by: { $0.id })
    
let sortedUsers = users.sorted(by: userEmailThenId)

A Comparator on a type can be created from a sequence of Comparator instances on that type using the static sequence method.

// Compares `User` instances, where
// - users who signed up earlier come first
// - if users signed up at the exact same time, their emails are compared lexicographically
// - if users' emails are identical or both `nil`, the user with the lower id comes first
let userSignupDateThenEmailThenId: Comparator<User> =
    .sequence(
        .comparing(by: { $0.signupDate }),
        .nilValuesLast(by: { $0.email }),
        .comparing(by: { $0.id })
    )

Inout Functions

Functions of type (inout A) -> Void can be modeled with InoutFunction, a separate type from Function that provides the ability to concatenate inout functions.

A Function<A, A> can be converted to an InoutFunction<A> with the toInout() method and back with the withoutInout() method:

let increment = Function { (x: Int) in x + 1 } // Function<Int, Int>
let inoutIncrement = increment.toInout()       // InoutFunction<Int>
var x = 1
inoutIncrement.apply(&x) // x == 2
inoutIncrement.apply(&x) // x == 3

Throwing Functions

Throwing functions will be supported in an upcoming update—check back soon!

Installation

Carthage

Add the following line to your Cartfile:

github "mpangburn/FunctionKit" ~> 0.1.0

CocoaPods

Add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'FunctionKit', '~> 0.1.0'

Swift Package Manager

Add the following line to your Package.swift file:

.package(url: "https://github.com/mpangburn/FunctionKit", from: "0.1.0")

References

License

FunctionKit is released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.