What are monads in Haskell and how do they compare to other languages?

What are monads in Haskell and how do they work?

Monads in Haskell are a design pattern used to handle side effects and manage computations. They encapsulate values along with a context, allowing for a sequence of operations to be performed in a controlled manner.

Can you explain how monads in Haskell compare to similar concepts in other languages?

Sure! In Haskell, monads are a fundamental part of the language, often used for handling IO, state, and exceptions. In languages like JavaScript, you might find similar patterns in Promises for asynchronous operations, while in Python, you can use generators to achieve similar control over flow.

What are some practical examples of using monads in Haskell?

Common examples include the Maybe monad for handling optional values, the List monad for non-deterministic computations, and the IO monad for input/output operations. Each of these allows you to chain operations while managing context.

How do I implement a simple monad in Haskell?

To implement a simple monad in Haskell, you need to define a type and implement the 'bind' (>>=) and 'return' functions. For example, you could create a simple wrapper around a value and define how to combine them.