Swift,

functional programming,
and does it matter?

Alexis Gallagher
@alexisgallagher
 Questions

Whats new in Swift?

Is Swift a functional programming language?

And what is functional anyway?

How useful is this really?

What's'hardly'new'in'Swi,?
 Objective-C

classes
methods
protocols
categories
functions
ARC
blocks
Cocoa values
& collections
 Objective-C

Swift

classes
methods
protocols
extensions
functions
ARC
closures
Cocoa values
& collections
What's'a'bit$new'in'Swi,?
 Objective-C

Swift + Swift

classes structs
methods namespaces
protocols access control
extensions operator
functions overloading
ARC ObjC interop
closures Swift values &
Cocoa values collections
& collections
What's'really&new'in'Swi,?
 Objective-C

Swift + Swift + Swift

classes structs enums with associated values

methods namespaces option types
protocols access control pattern matching
extensions operator generics
functions overloading type inference
ARC ObjC interop immutability supports
closures Swift values & tuples
Cocoa values collections
& collections
 Objective-C

Swift + Swift + Swift

classes structs enums with associated values

methods namespaces option types
protocols access control pattern matching
extensions operator generics
functions overloading type inference
ARC ObjC interop immutability supports
closures Swift values & tuples
Cocoa values collections
& collections
 Every really new part of Swift
originated in a functional programming
language of the 1980s or earlier.
FP
 JavaScript*is*brilliant*and*is*
succeeding*...*and*I*think*it's*because*
of*the*func:onal*stu.
"Douglas"Crockford,"2014
 No#ma&er#what#language#you#work#
in,#programming#in#a#func7onal#style#
provides#benets.#You#should#do#it#
whenever#it#is#convenient....
"John"Carmack,"2012.
a"programming"style
trea%ng(the

func%on
as#the#primary#unit#of#abstrac2on
mathematical functions computational functions
establish true relations do things
which remain true

t0 = 5 NSNumber * t0 = @5;

NSNumber * pos = f(t0);

f (t0 ) = 50 pos; // => 50

pos = f(t0);
f (t0 ) = 50 pos; //=> 100; (surprise!)
mathematical variables computational variables
are names are like names for places,
we give to values whose contents can change

t0 = 5 NSNumber * five = @5;

t0 = 5 five = @6; // ?!
five = @7;
t0 = 6 [five setIntegerValue:8]; // ?! ?!
FP style boils down to
Restrictions to emulate the
predictability of mathematical
functions and variables

Idioms to use functions for all

abstraction in defining other
functions, in hiding information, etc.

(Sometimes) type systems to

provide compile-time checks on the
values moving through functions
 supported by
STYLE FEATURES
Restrictions purity and immutability guarantees
pure functions
immutable data
function literals
Idioms function closures
combine, pass, & return
functions as first-class values
functions like other values
enums (aka, sum types, tagged unions)
Type systems (sometimes) algebraic data types
to check valid values type inference
fancy types: first-order, recursive,
dependent, higher-kinded, constrained,
etc..
 dynamic static
Scheme (1975) ML (1973)
SML (1984)

Erlang (1986)
Haskell (1988)

OCaml (1996)

Scala (2003)

F# (2005)
Clojure (2009)

Coq, Agda, Idris

So is Swift functional?
 Haskell SML Scheme Clojure Swift ObjC

purity & immutability help Yes, very. Y Y Y Y meh

function literals, closures,

Y Y Y Y Y meh
first-classness
expression-oriented Y Y Y Y N N

proper tail calls Y Y Y N ? ?

memory management Y Y Y Y meh meh

generics Y Y N N Y N

enum types Y Y N N Y N

type inference Y Y N N Y N

algebraic data types Y Y N N ? N

super DUPER fancy types Y ? N N N N

 If this were 1998
Swift would be a
niche functional language
Swift is not functional June 10th, 2014
Rob Napier

I, for one, welcome our new Haskell overloads

Sep 29th, 2014
Rob Napier
Objective-C without the C implies something subtractive, but
Swift dramatically expands the design space through the
introduction of generics and functional programming concepts.
Chris Lattner
Should we care?
<opinion>value of FP</opinion>
A useful toolbox for processing data, collections and streams.

A salutary discipline for simplicity. Pure functions, plain values.

When this is enough, its also the best. And its often enough.

Enums & protocols interfaces clarify thinking, but types can

complicate coding. (Safety benefits overrated.)

FRP, ReactiveCocoa, functional GUI I remain hopeful, skeptical.

 Objective-C

Swift + Swift + Swift

classes structs enums with associated values

methods namespaces option types
protocols access control pattern matching
extensions operator generics
functions overloading type inference
ARC ObjC interop immutability supports
closures Swift values & tuples
Cocoa values collections
& collections
Objective-C without the C implies something subtractive, but
Swift dramatically expands the design space through the
introduction of generics and functional programming concepts.
Chris Lattner

FP != type systems
 Where Swift/Cocoa fight FP
Support for immutable values, but

Inexpressive. Needs hash & equals boilerplate for value objects.

Inexpressive. No support for updated copy of such value objects,

nor of dictionaries, nor any KVC on structs.

Unperformant? No functional data structures.

Not expression-oriented. (e.g., switch returns no value)

Cocoa is subclasserific.
 Videos, notes, and exercises from the Coursera Programming
Languages course, a great intro to Scheme, SML, and Ruby.
<https://class.coursera.org/proglang-2012-001>

The talks by Rich Hickey (inventor of Clojure) are very rich: the Value
of Values, the Language of the System, etc..
 ChrisEidhof, FlorianKugler, and WouterSwierstra

Functional Programming in Swift

GitHub RAC devs (jspahrsummers, joshaber, & others)

ReactiveCocoa. This work is indirectly influenced by typed FP.

<https://github.com/ReactiveCocoa/ReactiveCocoa>

Maxwell Swadling

SwiftZ. Currently translating lots of typed FP idioms into a Swift library.

<https://github.com/maxpow4h/swiftz>

David Nolen.

Om. Functional approach to writing GUIs in the browser, using ClojureScript with Facebooks
React, leveraging CSP-style concurrency. Untyped FP.
<http://swannodette.github.io/2013/12/17/the-future-of-javascript-mvcs/>
@end
Is ObjC going away?
Is it easier now?
 Objective-C

Swift + Swift + Swift

classes structs enums with associated values

methods namespaces option types
protocols access control pattern matching
extensions operator generics
functions overloading type inference
ARC ObjC interop immutability supports
closures Swift values & tuples
Cocoa values collections
& collections
Objective-C isn't really going anywhere.... Even if you start a
brand new Swift app for the first time today after this session,
you're going to use Cocoa, or Cocoa Touch. You're going to
import Foundation. You're going to import UIKit. Those
frameworks are written in Objective-C. That means, wherever you
look around, there's going to be Objective-C in the picture.
And you're going to have to deal with debugging mixed Swift /
Objective-C situations..
"Advanced Swift Debugging in LLDB", WWDC2014, session 410, 20m28m.
 Canaries in the ObjC coal mine

Swift achieves genuine C-like performance

Swift-only types appearing at public API boundaries

Deprecation of the ObjC runtimes more dynamic features

 Swift is mostly conveniences
Swifts support for FP are essentially conveniences vs ObjC:

unified syntax for value types and references types, for methods,
functions, and closures,

type inference

easier declarations of immutability

More substantive: enums with associated values. Type system?