@jsoldi/hkt

Lightweight library that brings Haskell-style higher-kinded types to TypeScript. It includes common abstractions like Monad, Functor, and Monoid, along with implementations for common JavaScript objects. The idea is to provide a solid foundation for functional programming in TypeScript without abandoning JavaScript's native features.

As an example, instead of directly defining a foldable interface, the library provides a more general fold interface (with foldable as a special case), where results are wrapped in a monad. This approach allows types like AsyncGenerator to be folded by returning a task (a promise returning function), adding foldable capabilities to async generators.

The aim is for the library to integrate seamlessly into existing projects without the need to adopt a new paradigm or to rewrite existing code.

Installation

npm install @jsoldi/hkt

Examples

Piping computations

import { array } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// Monad's `pipe` emulates Haskell's do notation. Each function 
// receives all the previous results in reverse order.
const res = array.pipe(
    ['♦️', '♣️', '♥️', '♠️'], // suits
    _ => array.range(1, 13), // ranks
    (rank, suit) => [`${rank}${suit}`] // rank-suit pairs
); 

console.log(res); // ['1♦️', '2♦️', '3♦️', '4♦️', …, '12♠️', '13♠️']

Binary counting

import { array, string } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// This semiring uses array's `bind` to distribute addition (array 
// concatenation) over multiplication (string concatenation), 
const s = array.semiring(string);
const arg = array.replicate(5, ['0', '1']); // ['0', '1'] × 5
const res = s.times(...arg); // ('0' + '1') × ('0' + '1') … 
console.log(res); // ['00000', '00001', '00010',  …, '11111']

Higher-kinded types

Higher kinded types can be defined by extending the KRoot interface:

import { KRoot } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// Non higher-kinded Log type
type Log<T> = [string[], T];

// Higher-kinded Log type
interface KLog extends KRoot {
    readonly 0: unknown;
    readonly body: Log<this[0]>;
}

To apply arguments to higher-kinded types, use the $ operator like $<F, A>, where F is a higher-kinded type and A is the type argument:

import { $ } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// …
type NumberLog = $<KLog, number>; // Evaluates to `Log<number>`

Higher kinded types can themselves be used as type arguments. For instance, this is the IMonadBase definition, which can be passed to the monad function to produce an IMonad:

export interface IMonadBase<F> {
    unit<A>(a: A): $<F, A>
    bind<A, B>(fa: $<F, A>, f: (a: A) => $<F, B>): $<F, B>
}

Defining a custom monad

import { KRoot, monad } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// Non higher-kinded Log type
type Log<T> = [string[], T];

// Higher-kinded Log type
interface KLog extends KRoot {
    readonly 0: unknown;
    readonly body: Log<this[0]>;
}

const logger = {
    // Custom monad implementation
    ...monad<KLog>({
        unit: a => [[], a], 
        bind: ([logA, a], f) => {
            const [logB, b] = f(a); 
            return [[...logA, ...logB], b]; // Concatenate logs
        },
    }),
    log: <A>(log: string, a: A): Log<A> => [[log], a] // Add a log 
}

const add = (a: number, b: number): Log<number> => 
    logger.log(`Adding ${a} and ${b}`, a + b);

const mul = (a: number, b: number): Log<number> => 
    logger.log(`Multiplying ${a} and ${b}`, a * b);

const res = logger.pipe(
    logger.unit(1),
    x => mul(x, 2),
    x => add(x, 3)
);

console.log(res); // [["Multiplying 1 and 2", "Adding 2 and 3"], 5]

Advanced examples

Continuations and Trampolines

import { pipe, TypeArg, cont, ContVoid } from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// Stack-safe trampoline which combines continuations and thunks
const t = cont.trampoline;
type Trampoline<T> = TypeArg<typeof t, T>;
// Trampoline<T> = <R>(resolve: (t: T) => Free<R, KLazy>) => Free<R, KLazy>

// Fibonacci sequence using trampoline and memoization
const fibonacci = t.memo((n: bigint): Trampoline<bigint> => {
    if (n < 2)
        return t.unit(n);

    return t.pipe(
        t.suspend(() => fibonacci(n - 1n)),
        _ => t.suspend(() => fibonacci(n - 2n)),
        (m1, m2) => t.unit(m1 + m2)
    );
});

// Prompt function as a void returning continuation
const prompt = (message: string): ContVoid<string> => resolve => {
    console.log(message);

    process.stdin.addListener("data", function listen(data) {
        process.stdin.removeListener("data", listen);
        resolve(data.toString().trim());
    });
};

// Standalone `pipe` is the trivial (identity) monad's `pipe` — passing 
// the first argument through the (reversed) function composition of the 
// rest.
pipe(
    cont.void.map(
        prompt('Enter position in Fibonacci sequence or "exit": '),
        input => {
            try {
                if (input === 'exit') 
                    return true;

                const result = pipe(input, BigInt, fibonacci, t.run)();
                console.log('Result', result, '\n');
            } catch (e) {
                console.log('Invalid number\n');
            }
        }
    ),
    cont.void.doWhile(exit => !exit) // Loop until exit is true
)(_ => process.exit(0));

Stack-safe arithmetic parser

import { 
    cont, 
    maybe, 
    state, 
    TypeArg, 
    KRoot, 
    monadPlus, 
    chain, 
    lazy 
} from '@jsoldi/hkt';

// Alias for trampline
const t = cont.trampoline;

// Put maybe inside trampoline
const m = maybe.transform(t);

// Put trampoline inside state monad
const s = state.of<string>().transform(m); 

// Non-higher-kinded parser type
type Parser<T> = TypeArg<typeof s, T>; 
// Parser<T> = (a: string) => Cont<Maybe<[T, string]>, KFree<KLazy>>

// Higher-kinded parser type
interface KParser extends KRoot {
    readonly 0: unknown
    readonly body: Parser<this[0]>
}

const parser = (() => {
    // Create a monadPlus (monad + monoid) instance for the parser
    const base = monadPlus<KParser>({ 
        unit: s.unit,
        // Suspend the computation of the second parser for lazy evaluation
        bind: (p, f) => 
            s.bind(p, a => input => t.suspend(() => f(a)(input))),
        empty: () => _ => m.empty(),
        // `append` outputs the first non-empty result
        // No need to run the second parser if the first one succeeds
        append: (p1, p2) => input => 
            m.append(p1(input), t.suspend(() => p2(input)))
    });

    // Next character parser
    const next: Parser<string> = input => input.length === 0 
        ? m.empty() 
        : m.unit([input[0], input.slice(1)]);

    // Regex parser
    const regex = (re: RegExp): Parser<string> => (input: string) => {
        const match = input.match(re);

        return match === null
            ? m.empty()
            : m.unit([match[0], input.slice(match[0].length)]);
    }

    // Chain left-associative parser
    const chainl1 = <A>(
        p: Parser<A>, 
        op: Parser<(a: A, b: A) => A>
    ): Parser<A> => 
        base.bind(
            p,
            a => base.map(
                base.many(
                    base.bind(
                        op,
                        f => base.map(p, b => (x: A) => f(x, b))
                    )
                ),
                vs => vs.reduce((a, f) => f(a), a)
            )
        );

    // Character parser
    const char = (c: string) => base.filter<string>(s => s === c)(next);

    return { ...base, next, regex, chainl1, char }
})();

const math = (() => {
    // Number parser
    const num = parser.map(parser.regex(/^\d+(\.\d+)?/), parseFloat);

    // Addition and subtraction parser
    const addOp = parser.append(
        parser.map(parser.char('+'), _ => (a: number, b: number) => a + b),
        parser.map(parser.char('-'), _ => (a: number, b: number) => a - b)
    );

    // Multiplication and division parser
    const mulOp = parser.append(
        parser.map(parser.char('*'), _ => (a: number, b: number) => a * b),
        parser.map(parser.char('/'), _ => (a: number, b: number) => a / b)
    );

    // Numbers and groups parser
    const group: Parser<number> = parser.append(
        num,
        parser.pipe(
            parser.char('('),
            _ => expr,
            _ => parser.char(')'),
            (_, n) => parser.unit(n)
        )
    );

    // Arithmetic expression parser
    const expr = parser.chainl1(
        parser.chainl1(
            group,  // Parse numbers and groups first
            mulOp   // Then parse multiplication and division
        ),
        addOp       // Finally parse addition and subtraction
    );

    // Remove whitespace and parse expression
    const parse = chain(
        (s: string) => s.replace(/\s/g, ''), 
        expr, 
        m.fmap(([n]) => n),
        m.else(() => t.unit('Invalid expression')),
        t.run,
        lazy.run
    );

    return { ...parser, num, addOp, mulOp, group, expr, parse }
})();

console.log(math.parse('10.1 + 20 * 30 + 40')); // 650.1

// Trampoline is stack-safe
console.log(math.parse(
    Array.from({ length: 10000 }, (_, i) => i).join('+')
)); // 49995000