ArrMaybe

Doing FP in Javascript is make believe. This library helps us pretend we have a Maybe type in Native JS by piggy backing on the built in Array type.

The library is almost entirely static methods except for the included flatMapPolyfill.

There is some existing and planned interop with static-sum-type.

The documentation / tests are very light / nonexistent because it's easier to just read the source and see what's going on than to document it.

Why?

I find myself writing these helpers all the time, may as well publish/reuse/share them.

Quick Start

npm install arrmaybe

Live Demo

import * as ArrMaybe from 'arrmaybe'
 
ArrMaybe.flatMapPolyfill()
 
const parseJSON = 
    ArrMaybe.safe(JSON.parse)
 
const get = k => o => 
    ArrMaybe.Just(o).flatMap( 
        o => k in o 
        ? ArrMaybe.Just(o[k]) 
        : ArrMaybe.Nothing() 
    )
 
const f = s =>
    parseJSON(s)
    .flatMap( get( 'x' ) )
 
f( '<xml>1</xml>' )
// => []
 
f( '{}' )
// => []
 
f( '{ "b": 1 }' )
// => []
 
f( '{ "x": 1 }' )
// => [1]

Static API

Just

Wrap a value in a list of one value. This represents what is traditionally called Just or Some in languages like Haskell and Scala.

Nothing

Returns an empty list. This represents what is traditionally called Nothing or None.

flatMapPolyfill

Mutates Array prototype to have flatMap. A method which is already supported in many modern browsers.

any

Accepts a list of Maybe's, and returns a Maybe of a list of values that were not Nothing.

all

Accepts a list of Maybe's and returns a Maybe of a list of values if there were no Nothing values in the list.

Otherwise returns Nothing.

map

A static curried version of Array.prototype.map, that doesn't pass in the Array index.

flatMap

A static curried version of Array.prototype.flatMap that doesn't pass in the Array index.

filter

A static curried version of Array.prototype.filter that doesn't pass in the Array index.

concat

Accepts two Maybe values, if both are Just it will execute the concat method on the value inside both Maybe's and wrap the result in a Just, otherwise Nothing.

alt

Accepts two Maybe values, if both are Just it will return the first. If only the second is Just it will return the second. Otherwise Nothing.

justs

Accepts a list of Maybe's and returns a list of the values that were contained in any Just's within the original list.

isJust

Accepts a Maybe, returns true if the Maybe is Just

isNothing

Accepts a Maybe, returns true if the Maybe is Nothing

bifoldType

Accepts an object with a bifold function. Populates the bifold with Nothing if the left function is called, or Just if the right function is called. Waits for the bifold value to fully apply the function.

Meant to be used with static-sum-type

import * as sst from 'static-sum-type'
import * as Arr from 'arrmaybe'
 
const Loaded = sst.either('Loaded')
 
const notLoaded = Loaded.N(55)
const loaded = Loaded.Y('Hi there')
 
const f = x => x
    Arr.Just(x)
    .flatMap(
        bifoldType(Loaded)
    )
    .concat('Not loaded yet')
    .slice(0,1)
    .forEach(console.log)
 
f(notLoaded) // logs: 'Not loaded yet'
f(loaded) // logs: 'Hi There'

safe

Accepts a function, and then a value. Runs the value against the function. If it throws an exception returns Nothing, if it does not, it returns a Just of the return value of the original function.