= Rumonade[https://rubygems.org/gems/rumonade]

Project: github[http://github.com/ms-ati/rumonade]

Documentation: rubydoc.info[http://rubydoc.info/gems/rumonade/file/README.rdoc]

== A Ruby[http://www.ruby-lang.org] Monad[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monad_(functional_programming)] Library, Inspired by Scala[http://www.scala-lang.org]

Are you working in both the Scala[http://www.scala-lang.org] and Ruby[http://www.ruby-lang.org] worlds,
and finding that you miss some of the practical benefits of Scala's
monads[http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2007/09/monads-are-elephants-part-1.html] in Ruby?
Then Rumonade is for you.

The goal of this library is to make the most common and useful Scala monadic idioms available in Ruby via the following classes:
* {Rumonade::Option Option}
* {Rumonade::ArrayExtensions Array}
* {Rumonade::Either Either}
* Hash -- _coming_ _soon!_
* (_more_ _TBD_)

Syntactic support for scala-like for-comprehensions[http://www.scala-lang.org/node/111] will be implemented
as a sequence of calls to #flat_map, #select, etc, modelling Scala's
approach[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3754089/scala-for-comprehension/3754568#3754568].

Support for an all_catch[http://www.scala-lang.org/archives/downloads/distrib/files/nightly/docs/library/scala/util/control/Exception$.html]
idiom will be implemented to turn blocks which might throw exceptions into Option or Either
results. If this proves useful (and a good fit for Ruby), then more narrow functional catchers can be implemented as well.

== Usage

Using Option, one can transform _possibly_ _nil_ values in a _functional_ fashion, which can increase clarity while
eliminating opportunities for bugs:

  def format_date_in_march(time_or_date_or_nil)
    Option(time_or_date_or_nil).      # wraps possibly-nil value in an Option monad (Some or None)
        map(&:to_date).               # transforms a contained Time value into a Date value
        select {|d| d.month == 3}.    # filters out non-matching Date values (Some becomes None)
        map(&:to_s).                  # transforms a contained Date value into a String value
        map {|s| s.gsub('-', '')}.    # transforms a contained String value by removing '-'
        get_or_else("not in march!")  # returns the contained value, or the alternative if None
  end

  format_date_in_march(nil)                            # => "not in march!"
  format_date_in_march(Time.parse('2009-01-01 01:02')) # => "not in march!"
  format_date_in_march(Time.parse('2011-03-21 12:34')) # => "20110321"

Note:
* each step of the chained computations above are functionally isolated
* the value can notionally _start_ as nil, or _become_ nil during a computation, without effecting any other chained computations

(_more_ _examples_ _coming_ _soon_...)

== Approach

There have been many[http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/writings/programming/monads-in-ruby/00introduction.html]
posts[http://pretheory.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/the-maybe-monad-in-ruby/]
and[http://www.valuedlessons.com/2008/01/monads-in-ruby-with-nice-syntax.html]
discussions[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2709361/monad-equivalent-in-ruby]
about monads in Ruby, which have sparked a number of approaches.

Rumonade wants to be a practical drop-in Monad solution that will fit well into the Ruby world.

The priorities for Rumonade are:
1. Practical usability in day-to-day Ruby
   * <b>don't</b> mess up normal idioms of the language (e.g., Hash#map)
   * <b>don't</b> slow down normal idioms of the language (e.g., Array#map)
2. Rubyish-ness of usage
   * Monad is a mix-in, requiring methods self.unit and #bind be implemented by target classes
   * Prefer blocks to lambda/Procs where possible
3. Equivalent idioms to Scala where possible

== Status

This code is in a very early state, but the Option monad is already present.
Please try it out, and let me know what you think!