What are monads in Haskell and how do I use them?

What are monads in Haskell and how do I use them?

Monads in Haskell are a design pattern used to handle computations in a functional way. They allow you to chain operations together while managing side effects. A common example is the 'Maybe' monad, which represents computations that might fail.

Can you give me an example of using the Maybe monad?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

safeDivide :: Double -> Double -> Maybe Double
safeDivide _ 0 = Nothing
safeDivide x y = Just (x / y)

In this function, if the divisor is zero, it returns 'Nothing', otherwise it returns 'Just' the result.

What are some other common monads in Haskell?

Other common monads include the 'List' monad, which represents non-deterministic computations, and the 'IO' monad, which handles input/output operations.

How do I create my own monad in Haskell?

To create your own monad, you need to define a type and implement the 'Monad' type class, which includes the 'return' and '>>=' (bind) functions. Would you like a detailed example?